


And So History Repeats Itself

by JaniceLikesStuff (janiceprouvaire), Sydlee3



Category: Battle Royale - All Media Types, Haikyuu!!
Genre: Epileptic Bokuto, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Mild Gore, Misgendering, Mute Kenma, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating is subject to change, The OCs are filler characters, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, Violence, like half the characters are trans oops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-02
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-04-07 08:59:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 22,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4257345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janiceprouvaire/pseuds/JaniceLikesStuff, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sydlee3/pseuds/Sydlee3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Tsukishima Kei stared at the glowing screen with bated breath, watching the scene that unfolded before his unwavering hazel eyes. On the screen was his brother, none other than Tsukishima Akiteru, panting and covered in blood."</p>
<p>Just a few years after his brother is put into the Battle Royale, Tsukishima Kei follows in his brother's footsteps. He and a mix of friends and rivals are pulled out of their lives and thrown into the Battle Royale, and nothing's ever going to be the same.</p>
<p>Basically, everybody is put on an island and forced to kill their friends. A lot of characters are trans, so that the male-female ratio could be equal, (But also because trans characters are pretty great). The program does not recognize what you identify as, however, so there is misgendering literally everywhere. There is also gore and violence throughout. Like, blood-and-guts-and-bodies everywhere level gore. Be careful, everyone!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

        Tsukishima Kei stared at the glowing screen with bated breath, watching the scene that unfolded before his unwavering hazel eyes. On the screen was his brother, none other than Tsukishima Akiteru, panting and covered in blood. It was not something that he thought he’d ever be able to unsee, and against all else, he wished that it was him, the cold and arrogant douchebag that he was, standing in that arena. He wished that it was him instead of his naive and innocent brother, who was a far better character than he ever was.  
He was surprised that his brother had made it this far, to the top ten, but he supposed it was mostly thanks to the girl with him. Tanaka... Shiroko? It was sort of pathetic that he didn’t remember her name, but the only one he really cared about was Akiteru. Thankfully, the Tanaka girl seemed to care an awful lot about him, and hopefully she would be able to protect him. The only other contender at this point was a short kid, who had a decent size rifle.  
        Thankfully, Tsukishima wasn’t alone, or he would have been sobbing, screaming, in a perpetual state of panic, or all of the above. Yamaguchi Tadashi, perhaps his only friend, sat next to him, clearly as on edge as he was, his hand clenched around Tsukishima’s. He was grateful for Yamaguchi’s presence, and it was the only thing keeping him moored. Sure, he was shy and awkward, but Yamaguchi was loyal, more so than anyone Tsukishima had ever met. After finding out about the stunt Akiteru had pulled, he was glad to have someone he could lean on and trust.  
Thinking about Akiteru was more than enough to make him feel guilty about how he’d been treating his brother as of late. He knew that he’d been hurting Akiteru by not speaking to him, and he knew that Akiteru knew that he’d hurt him more, but still. No one deserved to be locked in a fight to the death with people they loved and cared about.  
         He’d been told that his brother was going on a trip with the school. It was all of the sports teams, going to some sort of event. He hadn’t cared, and hadn’t even told his brother goodbye.  
And yet, here he was, clutching Yamaguchi's hand, and watching his brother, his kind but cowardly brother, trapped in a horrific death battle. They did these every year, televised them even. As sick as it was, didn’t everyone want to watch a good old fashioned battle royale?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the prologue, then! Make sure to tell us what you think! We don't know how often we'll update, but hopefully often enough. Regular chapters will be longer than this!


	2. The Sun Goes Down [Part 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Have fun, Cinnamon Buns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so here's how this is going to work. I said I was going to finish it and release the whole thing, and then I realized that that is not at all an attainable thing, because I'm not even done part one and this thing is almost seven thousand words. So, The Original Plan has been forsaken, and I'm just gonna leave this here. Please comment because we thirst for comments thank you friends.

    Tsukishima had always hated field trips. It was unfamiliar, and he was surrounded by people. It was, in a word, _uncomfortable_. However, he was seated next to Yamaguchi, who had fallen asleep on with his head resting on his shoulder. His best friend’s steady breathing had never failed to soothe his nerves before, and he was sure that it wasn’t about to now. There was that, coupled with the music blasting through his obnoxiously large white headphones.

    It was a large trip, with a bunch of the best volleyball players in the prefecture. At the very least, those who could make it. They were headed to the stadium where nationals were being held, which had a name Tsukishima hadn’t bothered to remember. However, a bunch of kids from Tokyo had hitched a ride. From Miyagi, the whole Karasuno team was there, plus Iwaizumi and Oikawa from Aoba Jousai, and Ushijima from Shiratorizawa. A bunch of the Nekoma team had come along too, along with Bokuto and Akaashi from Fukurodani. Four other people were there as well, while Tsukishima didn’t know why, he figured they had some sort of place there, but was too lazy to question it.

    That combination of students made for a rowdy mess, from the more rambunctious characters, like Hinata, Bokuto, and Yamamoto, to the more subtly annoying Oikawa, to the calm people, which was pretty much just Akaashi at this point. There were so many people there, and in such a small space that it was a wonder that no one had been injured seriously. Tanaka had accidently knocked Kenma's game to the floor, and Kuroo had punched him in the stomach, but that didn't really count.

    The ride was supposed to take six hours, and he’d only survived two of them so far. He closed his eyes, ~~relaxing~~ trying to keep calm, with the music in his ears, and Yamaguchi’s warmth seeping into him.

Then, there was a thud. He opened his eyes, blinking to clear the haze, only to see that Hinata had passed out. He lay on the floor as Kageyama softly prodded him with his foot. Bokuto and Lev began to panic, and Yaku and Nishinoya dropped as well. The whole bus dissolved into chaos as more and more people started dropping.

Tsukishima was thankful that he had chosen a seat near the front of the bus, and a quick glance into the mirror showed that the bus driver was wearing a gas mask. Tsukishima pulled his hoodie over his mouth, and wrapped his arm protectively around Yamaguchi.

He watched as his friends, classmates, and people he barely knew drop. His vision  began to go fuzzy, and he knew that he didn’t have much time.

He passed out, curled protectively around his friend, and praying that this wasn’t what he thought it was.

* * *

    Tsukishima’s eyes fluttered open. He sat up, his glasses sitting precariously on the tip of his nose. Glancing around, he saw that he was surrounded by all of the people who were on the bus, but that Yamaguchi was quite a few seats away from him. The dread curling in his stomach reared, as he looked to the front of the room. On the whiteboard, there was a projection. In the center was the logo of Battle Royale.

    He swallowed a bit of bile as it came up his throat. Looking to the corner of the room, he saw a small camera, and his fears were confirmed - all of this was being aired. He found himself praying to whatever God was out there that Akiteru wasn’t watching, that his brother couldn’t see what he was about to be forced into. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lev rustle, and then snap to attention. His eyes wandered around, and met Tsukishima’s, filled with panic and fear. Tsukishima said nothing.

    Slowly, everyone else woke up, and nervous chatter filled the room. Then, a series of soldiers entered the room on either side of them, coming to the front of the room. Tsukishima could see at least three sets of weapons visible on each one, but he couldn’t begin to guess how many more were hidden. One man walked to the front of the room, and sat on the teacher’s desk.

    Tsukishima knew the spiel, but still tried to focus, even though his hearing was drifting in and out, and he wasn’t sure what he was missing.

    “You have been selected to participate in a Battle Royale. This is a great honor, and something to be taken seriously. I’m sure that you know the rules, but I have to explain them anyways.”

    The soldiers spread out, until each was standing at a desk, and they unfastened the students in a robotic manner. Then, they marched back to their original positions, while the students rubbed their wrists and ankles.

    “Alright. You will be dismissed from this class by rank and gender, and you will be given a duffel bag and sent outside. The duffel will contain a map and compass, food and water for two days, and a mystery weapon. There will be two minutes between dismissals.”

    By this point, everyone in the room realized what was going on, and was in various stages of panic. Tsukishima eyed Yamaguchi. His fists were clenched, and his knuckles were white.

    “At that point, you will be released onto the island, which was cleared prior to your arrival. The collars around your necks,” Tsukishima grimaced, as the feeling of the cold steel against his neck registered. He wondered how he’d missed it the first time. “will be used to monitor your position at all times. They also have another purpose. All of you have seen the Battle Royale, and know that the objective is to kill each other. But should you try to remove it, or wander into a “danger zone”, which this school will become in two hours, the collar will explode. Do you understand?”

    “This is bullshit.” Hinata stood up, pushing his chair against the floor with a hideous screech. “I’m not killing anyone. These collars can’t be that dangerous.” He spoke smoothly, his voice surprisingly calm for someone in their situation, if not loudly. The cold resolute look he wore during games shone in his eyes.

    Kageyama turned to him, and glared at him. One look at the brunette, and it was obvious that he was giving him one of those “Sit down, you’re out of your league” looks, but Hinata ignored him.

    “I’ve seen the games, but this one is going to be different. You can’t do anything about it.”

    The man in the suit, the gamemaster, only smiled. A chill ran down Tsukishima’s back, and he shivered. For once, he agreed with Kageyama.

    The teacher made some sort of hand signal, and two carts were wheeled in, with two large bags attached to them by plain, black straps.  Soldiers unzipped them, and pushed a button, which raised the carts into a vertical position.

    Tsukishima felt bile rising in his throat when he saw what the bags contained. In them were both Coach Ukai and Takeda, bruised and bloodied, bullet holes riddling their bodies. Their faces were contorted into something akin to a smile.

    “Well, Hinata Shouyou, I beg to differ. Neither of the coaches agreed to let you participate. Even after we roughed them up, they still thought that you shouldn’t be entered into the game. We even tried torturing them in front of each other, but it seemed they loved you kids more, even if both of them were in some sort of... relationship. However, with them dead, they can’t negate your participation. So, it seems that we do have the power to make this a different games indeed.”

    Hinata was reeling, (who wasn’t? The corpses of your coach and teacher isn’t a sight you see everyday), but he still stood. His knees were shaking, and his eyes watering, but he continued to stand firm. “It’s sad that Coach Ukai and Takeda are dead, but this games won’t bring them back. They believe in us, and so do I. I always will.”

    The gamemaster chuckled. “Even the corpses of those you care about aren’t enough to faze you. You’d have the makings of a winner. But...” He smiled again, and Tsukishima knew what was about to happen, but sat silent, powerless to stop it.

    “We can’t have someone with such a rebellious streak on this island.”

    Kageyama tried to leap out of his seat, screaming, “HINATA, NO!”, but he was too late. Calmly, and with startling accuracy, a soldier whipped out a large pistol and shot. The bullet landed in the center of Hinata’s chest, right where his heart was.

    The tiny redhead fell back, and landed in his seat, slumped and lifeless. Kageyama tried to leap over to him, but he was restrained by guards. Everyone else in the room was outraged, from Bokuto, grimacing angrily, to Sugawara, crying silently.

    But of all of them, Kageyama’s cries echoed the loudest, as the boy who resembled the sun turned, blood spurting out of his wound and trickling from his lips, to smile at Kageyama. Kageyama fought free of the guards, who stepped back with a nod from the gamemaster, and rushed to Hinata’s side.

    “S-Sorry, Kageyama.” Tears had sprung to the corner of Hinata’s eyes, and he reached for Kageyama’s hand. Kageyama grabbed it, and clung to it like a drowning man to a rope.

    “H-Hinata? W-We were su-supposed to b-be invincib-ble together. I c-can’t do it without you.” Kageyama's voice was so broken that even Tsukishima felt for him.

    Hinata smiled wider, and squeezed Kageyama’s hand, before his eyes rolled back in his head and his entire body went limp, sagging into the chair.

    Sugawara stood up slowly, ignoring the dozens of guns that were instantly trained on them. They shuffled over slowly to Kageyama, and put their arms around his shoulders. Kageyama turned and grabbed his teammate, and eagerly flung himself into their arms.

    Suga simply did their best to comfort him, ignoring the blood and tears that Kageyama was wiping on their shirt. But even their gentle pats and comforting choruses of "shhh" weren't enough to calm down Kageyama. Which was understandable, but at the same time... About half of the class was watching them, eyes wide with shock and jaws opened wide, and the other half were respectfully looking away, some of them gagging at the sight and smell of Hinata's blood. One of the people who Tsukishima hadn't seen before looked like they were going to break down completely.

    But the gamemaster just stood there smiling. "The parental display of affection is cute, but if you don't mind, may we please begin?"

    Suga snarled at him, and, in the snarkiest tone that Tsukishima had ever heard them use, they hissed out "Of course. Wouldn't want anything to happen to your precious game."

    The gamemaster only nodded, and pulled a notecard out of the front pocket of his suit. "Boys one, Akaashi Keiji."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly can't predict the update schedule because this thing is all over the place so... I don't really know what to tell you. These things can range from two days to two weeks so just brace yourselves.


	3. The First Wave [Part 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The games begin! But not really. This is sort of an exposition chapter oops but it's important so... anyways, enjoy, and the comment thirst is ever present so yeah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some edits were made to the last chapter so I mean checking those out wouldn't hurt but other than that have fun! (And by fun I mean brace for pain and suffering, because the next chapter the games begin in earnest!)

    “Boys one, Akaashi Keiji.”

Akaashi stood up stiffly, and walked slowly over to one of the soldiers, who handed him his bag, and shuffled out the door. A timer showed up on the board, and started counting down from two minutes. After it hit the bottom, the gamemaster pointed to the next name on the list.

“Girls one, Yamaguchi Tadashi.”

“B-but-” Yamaguchi stuttered, a large blush spreading across his face.

“Your two minutes have started. I’d suggest moving sooner than later.” The gamemaster smiled his cruel smile, and Tsukishima grimaced. Very few people knew about Yamaguchi, and Yamaguchi had liked it that way. He could see some of the other people in the room who weren’t the gender assigned to them cringe. He didn’t know all of them, and there were some things that people had a right to keep to themselves. It wasn’t any of their business, and it was humiliating to bring it up.

But what could he say? This man had already killed Hinata in cold blood, and a subtle glance in Kageyama’s direction was just a glimpse of what it did to morale.

He sat there fuming, at his own helplessness and at the attitude of the room. He had never been one for fancy speeches or battle cries, but honestly this was getting out of hand.

“Boys two, Sawamura Daichi.” 

The captain grit his teeth, but nonetheless grabbed his bag and shuffled out of the room. 

Suga looked after him longingly, but remained with Kageyama, a firm hand on the smaller setter’s shoulder. It was clear he needed comfort now, more than anything else, and if anyone on the team was qualified to handle this kind of mess, it was Suga.

Tsukishima leaned back in his chair, knowing it would be a while until he was called, (because while he was in high achieving classes, Yamaguchi was a lot smarter than him naturally, and worked at least ten times as hard),  and tried his best to calm his nerves by breathing deeply. When he got out, the first thing he’d have to do was find Yamaguchi. That took priority, and should easily be manageable with his athletic ability. Since he had a plan, all that he could do was wait.

* * *

    He also pulled out a map and compass, grinning. He would be able to figure out where he was easily. That left the strange black tube in the bottom of the bag. What was it, exactly?

    Pulling it out to examine it, Akaashi accidently hit the button on the side. A bright strobe light shot out of the lower end of the tube, and Akaashi rushed to make it stop, hoping that none of the other contestants had noticed.

    However, the second push produced only a solid beam of brilliant white light, and the third changed the beam to red. The fourth push, thankfully, made the dazzling display stop, and for that, he was very grateful. Exhaling shakily, he put the flashlight back in his bag, and zipped it up.

    Shoving it to the side, he made a little nest for himself in the tree branch, with his back against the trunk. Hopefully, that night wouldn’t get too cold, and he wouldn’t face any problems from that end.

    In his head, all he could hear were the echoes of the gamemaster’s voice, and the gunshot that killed Hinata. He hadn’t known the kid all that well, but Kageyama had been a wreck afterwards. He wished that he’d gotten to see how that had played out.

It was only late afternoon, but Akaashi was already totally exhausted. In his defense, it had been a really long day. The sleep couldn’t hurt him. Anything he dreamed up couldn’t be worse than the life he was living anyways.

* * *

   Yamaguchi was terrified out of his mind, and for a multitude of reasons. Not only had he just been outed to everyone in that classroom, (and the world), but he was also forced into the Battle Royale. The flashbacks hit him hard, and he’d almost fainted in that classroom.

    He remembered sitting next to Tsukki, their hands clasped together and eyes fixed on the screen as they’d watched Akiteru fight through the same nightmare that they were currently facing. He’d remembered wincing at the carnage, but too scared to look away.

    There was no way he’d survive this without Tsukki. He needed his best friend there with him, or there was no way that he was going to make it through the night. But for now, all the he could do was run, and hope that Tsukki would know to find him.

* * *

   When Daichi heard his name, he’d grabbed his things and taken off. With one wayward glance at Suga, he’d grabbed his things and made a run for it. Since they were going by genders assigned at birth, he thought Suga might be next, but he didn’t know, and it wasn’t safe to stay in plain sight if he was wrong.

    He saw a tree near the exit, and ran to it, standing behind the large roots. He shuffled through the contents of his bag for a bit, looking to see what he had in the way of weapons, and to see where he was directionally. He pulled out a sleek, titanium baseball bat. He could work with this. He could definitely work with this. He was so busy thinking of the possibilities that he almost missed the person jogging past him.

    Daichi shifted himself so that he could see around the tree to have his guesses confirmed. Suga was in fact the next person out. They were crying silently, blood staining their jacket, and their bag looked to be pretty heavy. “Suga!” He called out, hoping that his friend was actually listening. When they didn’t turn around, he tried again. “Suga!”

    That time, they whipped around, a smile spread wide across their face. “Daichi!” They said, without even looking at him.

    Daichi ran out from behind the tree, leaving his bag where it was, and nearly tackled Suga into a hug, which Suga reciprocated.

    “Kageyama is a mess and we’re trapped in a place that’s meant to serve as an arena where thirty kids fight to the death. They killed our coaches, and I don’t think I’m going to make it.”

    Daichi nodded. “If it’s any comfort, I don’t think I’m going to be able to do it either.”

    Suga sighed. “Together?”

    “As if there was any other way.” Daichi smiled, before pulling away. He grabbed his bag, and started to jog alongside Suga. Both of them heard someone run out of the entryway behind them, but ignored it. It was two against one anyways.

    After a while, Daichi stopped, a familiar worried expression on his face. “Hey, what did you get as your weapon?”

    Suga shrugged. “I didn’t check yet.” They slung their bag off of their shoulders, and unzipped it. Then, all of the color drained from their face. “Daichi?”

    “What is it?” Daichi wanted to know what evil thing could make Suga so upset.

    “I think... I think it’s an AK-47.”

* * *

   Ushijima Wakatoshi knew that he had a lot of physical strength, but that if his weapon was horrible it wouldn’t mean anything. So, as soon as his name and number were called, (Boys three), he grabbed the bag offered to him and ran.

    He heard Karasuno’s Setter and Captain, Sugawara and Sawamura, but he chose to ignore them. He didn’t even know what his weapon was yet. After reaching a random tree, he stopped and gently placed his bag in front of him, calmly opening the zipper and trying to make minimal noise.

    He shifted past the food and water and map, instead going straight for his weapon.

    Goddammit.

    Ushijima pulled a pan lid out of the bag, a disappointed frown splayed across his features.

    What in the hell was he supposed to do with this?

* * *

   “Girls three, Michimiya Yui.”

    She winced at the sound of her name. With shaking legs and teeth chattering slightly, She grabbed her bag, and stumbled out of the room. Walking out of the tunnel, she managed to successfully drag herself over to a tree and throw her bag to the side, where she promptly threw up. It was sort of nasty, but then again, so was watching a child murdered right in front of you.

    She cringed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She couldn’t stop seeing Hinata’s body every time she closed her eyes.

    In an attempt to distract herself, she started to dig through her bag. All of the food and water was there, along with the maps and compasses that he had mentioned. Finally, she got to the weapon. Hers was a medium sized white box of sorts. She opened the plastic clasps as delicately and soundlessly as possible, only to find... bandages? An icy feeling formed in the pit of her stomach. Most of these kids probably had actual weapons, and all that she had was a first aid kit. Something designed for the exact opposite of killing.

    Not that she could kill anyone. She didn’t mind any of those kids, from the ones that she’d been going to school with, like Daichi and Kiyoko, to the ones she’d only met today, like Bokuto and Akaashi.

    Yui breathed a sigh of relief. With this, she could probably team up with someone who had an actual weapon, and maybe the two of them could make it. With that kind of hope in her heart, she slung her bag over her shoulder and grabbed her map and compass.

    She set off to the North, for no reason in particular, but if there was any time to follow her instincts, it was now.

* * *

    “Boys Four, Inouka Sou.”

    Finally. He knew that he wasn’t the best in school, but he’d gotten pretty good at faking it. Apparently, he’d been doing a really good job, because his class rank was a lot higher than it ought to be.

    He practically launched himself from his desk, grabbing his bag and running. He had a lot of speed and stamina, if nothing else, so that ought to serve as something. He knew that he’d be going up against some of the best players in the prefecture, hell, the whole country, but if he let that faze him now he’d be a goner.

    He may not have been good enough to be a regular, but maybe, just maybe, he was good enough to be a survivor.

* * *

   Kiyoko was unsurprised by her high class ranking, (fourth), and it seemed that the rest of the Karasuno kids were as well.

    Retaining all of the composure that she could(she had jumped at the sound of the gunshot that killed Hinata), she managed to make it out of the classroom.

    It was said that death didn’t make you feel anything, but Kiyoko was feeling things in overdrive. Her mind was running a thousand miles a minute, and her hands were shaking just a little bit. She could feel the fibers of the cotton of her shirt, and the comfortable material of her pants. She could feel her feet shift in her shoes, and she could feel the strap of the black bag cutting into her shoulder. It felt wrong to be so alive in the face of death, but it also felt so right.

    Once she got out of the tunnel, she started to jog at a reasonable pace. She didn’t see any signs of people, and continued to make her way over to a clearing, near some sort of cave. She looked around the inside of said cave, scanning the interior for any sign of the other contenders. Being one of the first people out had it’s advantages, and she hadn’t seen any sign of her classmates since she left the classroom.

    There were a few vines hanging near the cave, and Kiyoko didn’t hesitate to pull them in front of the cave in the most natural possible arrangement. No one would know that she was there unless she stood outside it. Satisfied with her handiwork, she ducked inside, and started to dig through her bag. She took a sip of water, knowing that she had to make it last.

    Looking for her location on the map, she found it. It wasn’t a forbidden area, and for that she was thankful. Maybe she could get some sleep before she had to move out.

    Finally, she pulled out the weapon she’d received. Much to her surprise, it was a Remington Sniper rifle. There was also a small box of bullets, which were definitely on the larger side.

    There was some sort of manual on how to use it, but she’d seen enough military documentaries to have a general idea of how it worked. However, she’d never shot before, so this was going to be a bit of a challenge. She couldn’t risk practicing, or she’d be heard, but her upper body strength was nothing to joke about so there was very little doubt in her mind that she could handle it.

    Kiyoko set the gun to the side, and was beginning to set up some sort of temporary camp. Rolling up her jacket as a pillow, and setting her things in a place that she could reach them, she laid down on top of her makeshift bed, and closed her eyes. Focusing only on breathing deeply and not thinking of anything, she rested. Something told her that it would be a long time until she could rest like this again.

* * *

    “Boys five, Iwaizumi Hajime.”

    Iwaizumi knew it was stupid, but he stood outside the door to the tunnel and waited. He knew that anyone around could simply pick him off with a single bullet, but at this point, he didn’t really care.

    He knew who was coming out of that door after him, and he wanted to wait.

    Sure enough, roughly two minutes later one highly distressed Oikawa Tooru came barreling out of the tunnel, and actually crashed into him.

    Iwaizumi was sprawled out on the ground underneath 180 centimeters of his datemate,nearly crushing him. “Yo, Assikawa! Get off of me!”

    Oikawa’s eyes met his. “Iwa-chan? Iwa-chan! I was hoping you’d wait for me.” There were tears in the setter’s eyes, but Iwaizumi chose to ignore them in light of recent events. Recent events including the death of Hinata Shouyou(who he hadn’t known that well, but he seemed like a nice kid), and the whole fight to the death thing.

“Come on. We need to get out of here.” He had a point. Standing out in the open like that was suicide.

    Oikawa nodded, that fake smile that Iwaizumi loathed plastered across his face. “Sure, Iwa-chan. Let’s go that way!”

    Iwaizumi shrugged. “Not like I had any idea where to go.” He grabbed Oikawa’s hand, and started dragging him off in the direction that he had pointed in.

    Both of them walked through the forest, not really finding anything, until they reached a river. Oikawa smiled softly, and knelt at the bank. He cupped his hands, and splashed some of the surprisingly crystalline water onto his face.

    Iwaizumi set both of their bags next to each other, and opened them up. The gamemaster hadn’t lied about the food and water, map, and compass, or the weapons. In his own bag was a pistol, fairly generic, but not large. “A Beretta Bodyguard, best suited to self defense,” according to the tag inside. Along with it, there was a sizeable box of bullets, enough to last them a long time.

    Oikawa, on the other hand, had received a short ceremonial tanto blade. It wouldn’t be good for much, but it could be easily concealed and it was better than nothing.

    “Hey. Oikawa,” Iwaizumi grunted.

    “Hm? What is it, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa cocked his head to the side, water dripping from his hair and running down his face, once again wearing that stupid, stupid smile.

    “How do you want to do this?” He hoped that the seriousness in his voice was enough to convey his message to his friend.

    Oikawa’s eyes hardened in a look that hurt Iwaizumi in his heart almost as much. “I want to be free.”

    The vague wording threw Iwaizumi off. “Well, what do you mean by that? I can only do so much.”

    Oikawa grabbed his hand, looking at the ground. “I kind of want to win, but I also really, really don’t. Not with my friend’s lives on the line. But...”

    “But..” Iwaizumi prompted.

    Iwaizumi looked into Oikawa’s eyes, which were rimmed with red, tears starting to leak out of the corners. “I don’t want to die, Iwa-chan. There’s so much more out there, that I wanted to see, and do, and feel... I don’t think I’m going to make it.”

    Iwaizumi grabbed his other hand and put his forehead very close to Oikawa’s. “Shh... I understand. I don’t think I’m going to last either.”

    Oikawa pulled away, clearly somewhat shocked. “You could, though. You could make it!”

    “No...” Iwaizumi chuckled softly, squeezing Oikawa’s hands. “I couldn’t. Because even if it somehow came down to just the two of us, there’s no way that I would win.”

    “That’s not right at all. If it came down to just the two of us, I’d make sure I didn’t win either.” He shook his head. “You just can’t get rid of me!”

    “But really. I need you to promise me something, Oikawa.” Iwaizumi’s eyes hardened, and his breathing became louder against Oikawa’s fragile silence.

    “Yeah? Anything.”

    “You’re going to try to win this. You could, with all of the athletic training you’ve done. But no matter what happens to me... I don’t ever want to be without you.”

    Oikawa smirked. “I agree,” Iwaizumi breathed a sigh of relief, “on one condition. You have to promise too. None of this sacrifice crap. And if by some miracle we make it, we find a way out together too. We stay together until the end.”

    Iwaizumi nodded. “I guess I can agree to that. Together until the end, Assikawa.”

    “Hey, that was rude!” Oikawa pulled away, a genuine grin on his face for the first time all afternoon. “Let’s find a place to sleep for tonight. It’s going to get dark soon, and I want to find a place before then. It’ll be a sleepover!”

    The cheery tone was back in his voice, and Iwaizumi breathed yet another sigh. They had a plan, and even if that went to hell in a handbasket they had each other.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so I told you that the update schedule would be inconsistent, but I will do what I can to get it to roughly a week between new chapters, of roughly 1k to 2k words. A fic of this magnitude takes time and determination, and I have enough of both to make this happen! Please keep reading, because in the next chapter, like I said, the game begins in earnest!


	4. The First Casualties [Part 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So the first actual death in the games is in here so y'alls can have fun with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay several orders of business here.  
> 1) Yes, I know I haven't updated in a while, mostly because life happened.  
> 2) This is not the end of part one, which I finally finished. I didn't expect it to get this long, but hey. It's going to get this long.  
> 3) The length that I posted is not at all proportionate to my absence, so oops.  
> 4) Now, even if you skimmed all of the other bullets, you have to read this one, because this is by far the most important: WE HAVE A BETA *Insert that emoji with the thing that shoots out confetti and party hat emoji and like eight thousand balloon emojis* You can find them at haikawaiikitten on here and at sugasspandexshorts on tumblr and we are very grateful to them for making sure that what we upload isn't garbage.

    Tsukishima sat somewhat impatiently, tapping his feet nervously. The Tanaka doppleganger from Nekoma shot him a dangerous look that practically roared for him to stop, but Tsukishima was past caring.

    He knew he wasn’t at the top of his class, but his name was going to be called any minute now, and he needed to be ready.

    A few of those people he’d never heard of had just left, (Akane and Rei. They did look sort of familiar, but it was a little too late to question it), and he knew that it wouldn’t be long until he could see Yamaguchi again.

    “Boys seven, Tsukishima Kei.”

    As soon as he heard his name, he sprinted out of the room as fast as possible, dragging the bag with him. As soon as he hit the outside, he grimaced at the light, waiting a few seconds for his eyes to adjust.

    Then, he started to walk around, trying to be as silent as possible. He stopped over by a random tree, and set down his bag, examining its contents. Much to his surprise, the gamemaster hadn’t lied to them, and all of the things were in there. He reached around for his weapon, surprised to pull out a book. A book.

    He flipped it over to read the title, and nearly burst out laughing from sheer frustration and disgust. Some kids had probably gotten swords, and pistols, and knives, but what was his weapon?

    A goddamn pocket dictionary.

    This had to be some sort of joke, and it wasn’t even a funny one. Why was this even in the weapon registry? He shivered, wondering about the kids out there with guns and swords, and all of the things that he didn’t have in his defense.

    Then again, maybe other people had gotten these sorts of horrible joke weapons too. He did have a physical advantage, with his height, second only to maybe three people tops, he would probably have the advantage in hand to hand combat.

* * *

 

    “Girls seven, Yaku Morisuke.”

    Yaku winced, still not over the fact that one of the biggest secrets he had in his life was just bared to the whole world, like it was the weather. To think that years of hard work and keeping secrets were torn away like a wrapping paper by some douchebag in a suit.

    But of course, there was nothing he could do. Flustered and blushing a surprising shade of crimson, he focused his eyes  on the grimy and disgusting floor, trying to maintain some degree of pride and dignity as he shuffled over to the door, and the soldier holding his bag. After pulling it out of the man’s hands, he did an awkward run-walk-gallop out of the corridor. When he reached the outdoors, he was nearly blinded by the sunlight, not at all fitting for a day like this.

    “Hmmm...” he paused, mumbling to himself. “If I...” He glanced around for a moment, and spotted a tree nearby, which was tall enough for him to drop down onto the overhang. He was in the process of scaling the tree, when a figure darted out of the door. Yaku froze, praying that they wouldn’t notice him.

    The person continued to run, and Yaku could hear choked sobs coming from them, but they were already long gone, and out of sight in seconds. The clearing was only so large, after all, it the woods were very thick.

    Yaku didn’t have the luxury of reflecting, though, and reached the top of the tree quickly, landing on the overhang gracefully. He opened the bag, ignoring the food and map, going right for the weapon. It was a hunting knife, with a foot long blade, serrated and sharp enough to tear flesh.

    “I don’t have an advantage here,” he whispered softly to himself. “All of these people are larger than me, not to mention more dangerous. So it’s okay to do this, and try and kill them before I go. I’m,” he breathed, closing his eyes. “I’m just putting them out of their misery.”

    He heard footsteps approaching, and quickly silenced his justification for murder.

    Yaku didn’t even bother to look and see who it was, instead choosing to drop down onto the figure without even trying to guess who they were. He dragged the blade across their throat, and there was a sick tearing sound, like cutting rubber,followed by an awful cacophony of coughing and gasping and gushing. In a quick and almost practiced motion, Yaku dropped the body to the ground roughly. It was only then that Yaku realized who exactly it was - none other than his own team’s setter, Kozume Kenma, now lying on the ground, choking softly as blood poured out of their throat.

    Yaku froze. He dropped his knife, throwing it to the side, and fell to his knees in complete shock. “K-Kenma?”

    Kenma turned their head from their position on their side, and their eyes widened when they saw the face of their attacker, then formed an expression of complete and utter betrayal. Yaku tore off his jacket and pressed it to the wound.

    “Shhh, it’s going to be alright, Kenma. Just breathe. I promise that I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you.”

    Kenma’s eyes began to glaze over, and the feeling of his inevitable death washed over Yaku, trapping him there. The frighteningly dark blood was still gushing out of their mouth, choking them, staining their teeth, and the front of their shirt, and Yaku knew there was nothing he could do about it.

    Yaku felt him before he saw him - that is to say, Kuroo running up behind him and immediately violently pushing him away. Yaku knew he should run, considering the size and strength of his captain, but stayed rooted to the spot, unable to even blink as the scene before him unfolded.

    “Kenma? Kenma? Can you hear me?” Kuroo tapped the side of their face firmly. It was the most panicked that Yaku had ever seen his captain. His amber eyes were wide open, cat-like pupils blown wide in terror, his raven hair flung in every which direction, with hot, salty tears running down his cheeks.

    Kenma reached their hand out towards Kuroo’s face, stroking it for a moment, and smiled softly, almost as if letting Kuroo know that hey, don’t worry about me, everything’s gonna be okay, just get out. Kenma opened his mouth to hoarsely whisper one last word.

“Run.”

After a moment, they coughed again, and the light disappeared from their eyes, their head falling limply to the ground.

    “KENMA!” Kuroo screamed in complete and utter agony, grabbed the smaller person, pulling them to his chest. He stayed there for a moment, and then he angled himself so that he could face Yaku. His eyebrows creased, amber eyes holding the fire of deep loss and  unadulterated rage.

“What did you do?” The words laced with anger and hurt pinned Yaku in place, and for a moment, he couldn’t breathe properly

    “I... I...” Yaku froze, unable to stutter more than that.

    Kuroo laid Kenma down gently. He felt the ground behind him, his hand landing on the hilt of Yaku’s knife. Yaku’s eyes widened, knowing what Kuroo was about to do. Kuroo grabbed the large knife, still dripping with Kenma’s blood, fist clenched and knuckles white. He plunged the blade into Yaku’s right eye with a guttural scream, more anguished than the one that Yaku made, and full of pure and untainted rage and hurt.

    “You took my light, Yaku,” Kuroo said, a strange mixture of loss and madness shining in his eyes. “ Now, I’m going to take yours. It’s a pity Lev isn’t here, if he was, then you could feel what I feel right now.”

    Whimpering, Yaku tried to pull the knife out of his eye, reaching and trying to grip the hilt, unable to find it. “N-No, please. Not... Not Lev. Anyone e-else. Anyone but him. Kill me. Kill me, Kuroo, I wouldn’t even blame you.. Just... Don’t touch him.”

    Kuroo smiled, his amber gaze shining with madness. Flicking Yaku’s hand away in a disturbingly soft andcaring way, he pulled the bloodied knife from Yaku’s eye and spoke in a way that denoted a madman. “Then you had better pray that I don’t see either of you ever again. If I do...”

    He picked up Kenma’s lifeless body, and moved it to a spot underneath the tree. After closing their eyes in a final farewell, he ran off, leaving Yaku weaponless, completely blinded in his right eye, bleeding all over his jacket, and with the guilt of having killed someone who should have been a friend.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact in the original bit where Kuroo asks, "Kenma, can you hear me?" I wrote "Ken you hear me?" Which isn't all that funny but Janice liked it and I wanted to share (so sue me).
> 
> In actual relevat news, I think I'm going to upload the next part in 2-3 days, so you can look forward to that. I think the comment thing is implied at this point, but yeah they're kind of like the easiest way to motivate me to write!


	5. The Final Participants [Part 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is that last part of part one where everyone is out there and the mess ensues, although Hinata and Kenma are the only deaths for part one, because I, like Demi Levato, want to give your hearts a break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I said I was going to update in like two days and clearly that did not happen for a couple of reasons; I got sick, and Janice had band camp. So, I decided to release the thing I was going to do in two parts in one. This is the last bit of part one. There's going to be an important chapter after this with recap and a surprise, so be sure to check in when I get that up, which should be soon, but my schedule is such a nightmare right now that I actually don't think I can give you a solid date. Sorry about that. In other news, Janice and I still have our beta, who can be found at haikawaiikitten on ao3 and sugasspandexshorts on tumblr.

Asahi heard her name called, and then and only then did it hit her how real this was. For someone who was scared of everything, from school, (which was understandable), to some of her own teammates, (which was completely and totally irrational), it hadn’t really stuck until now that this was the scariest thing she’d ever face. 

Even knowing her name had to be coming soon, and exactly how it would be be called, she still grimaced at the sound. 

“Boys eight, Azumane Asahi.”

When given the choice between fight and flight, there were very few things on this planet that could motivate her to choose fight. Grabbing the bag offered to her and slinging it over her shoulder, she ran quickly, faster than she ever thought she could. 

She didn’t even open her eyes as she tore down the hallway, and managed to stay on track via the echoing sounds her feet made as they slapped the concrete path beneath her. 

A choked sob tore from her, and she hadn’t even noticed that she was crying until she felt the warm tears trickling down her face. 

The change in lighting was the only indicator that she was outside, and she cracked her eyes open, keeping them focused on the ground so that she could see where she was going. Even then, she didn’t have a lot to go off of. All she could see around her was trees, as far as the eye could see.

She just kept running, even though she couldn’t feel her legs and panted loudly enough to give away her location to anyone with ears. In fact, she could have, (and would have), kept running, but suddenly she tripped over a root. She went sprawling in an almost comical way. It made her homesick to think of the school gym, and how everyone else would have reacted. Noya and Tanaka would have laughed, but helped her up, and Tsukishima would have made some snarky comment, and Hinata would have said that it happened to him all the time. 

The tears that had dried while she ran sprung back into her eyes, but it wasn’t just from all of the thoughts of her teammates. Her right ankle was twisted in a strange way, bending in a direction that it shouldn't, and the throbbing pain traveled up her leg in a way that burned.

With a moan, she tried to pull herself together into a sitting position, and brace herself against a tree to assess the damage. She took off her shoe and rolled up her pant leg, to reveal a bright and irritated redness that not only covered the ankle, but was spreading to the foot and lower leg as well. 

What she wouldn’t have given for some ice, or even a wrap. She settled for massaging it to search for a break, which only caused her more pain and brought another moan. 

Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming towards her. Panic seized her, and she clapped her hand over her mouth to cover her breathing. As silently as she could, she tried to unzip her bag, catching the glint of metal inside. She managed to get her entire fist into the bag when she heard a soft and feminine voice. 

“Asahi? Is that you?”

* * *

 

All of the feelings in Kuroo Tetsurou’s chest couldn’t be put into words. But, if he had to pick three names for the emotions, he’d pick betrayal, anger, and loss. 

The first, betrayal, was fairly obvious. He’d been with Yaku for three years, trusting in the libero to have his back, and for that kind of faith to be reinforced time and time again only to be broken so suddenly was a devastating feeling. 

The second, anger, was also obvious in the sense that it was just. Even after believing in Yaku time and time again, to watch him slit his best friend and companion’s throat. “What gives him the right!” Kuroo yelled, fisting his hands in his hair and tugging hard enough to actually tear some of the raven locks. 

But the third, the loss, perhaps the most obvious and natural reaction was the one that hurt him the most. Walking through the forest, he could feel his feet dragging on the dirt and getting caught on roots, and leaving incredibly obvious tracks, but not a single part of him cared. 

Actually, that small part of him that thought like Kenma cared, and was telling him to be more careful. But alas in the maelstrom of other emotions swirling in his head, the notion was overpowered, like a small ship in a full blown hurricane. 

He lost track of where he was and where he was going, as well as all motivation to move and think and breathe, and he figured that it was his cue to stop. He sat down under one of the large trees and slumped against it, not really caring if anyone found him. 

The spatter of Yaku’s blood on his sleeve was starting to dry and itch, and he scratched it. He didn’t stop scratching, even when the angry red mark started to ooze small crimson droplets, sticking unpleasantly to his nails. It hurt, but it made him feel something again, and he managed to snap out of the daze long enough to think for a second. He set both his bag and Kenma’s next to each other, and opened them up. Transferring all of the supplies into his bag, and burying Kenma’s bag sloppily in the ground, he did inventory. All of the food was there, not that he was hungry, but he splurged and used an entire bottle of water to clean the blood off of his hands and sleeves, and to clean off Yaku’s knife. 

He splashed the remainder in his face, relishing the cool feeling against his skin. He looked at the weapons. He had received a bow and arrow, and he adjusted the strap on the quiver for his comfort and he put the hunting knife in a makeshift scabbard off of his belt. 

Kenma’s weapon was the one that he didn’t understand. It was shaped like a psp, (the sickening irony wasn’t lost on him), but he had no idea what it was for. After locating the power button on the side and firing it up, a grid appeared, with two dots on it. Was this... No... Kuroo sighed. It was a tracker. He figured the one dot was him, but the other dot was coming closer to him. 

Kuroo shoved the tracker in his bag and nocked an arrow with the grim resignation that came with the mandate of shooting to kill.

* * *

 

“Girls nine, Yachi Hitoka.”

The blonde stood, standing up shakily, and wobbling over to the door. She could see the pity in the eyes of her friends and teammates, and even the kids who had only met her today. 

She reached out to take the bag that was handed to her, nearly dropping it, before tottering out the door.

At the end of the tunnel, she smelled blood, and nearly passed out, gagging when she saw the origin of the mess. To say that she had known Kenma would have been a stretch, but at the very least she knew what he looked like, and knew that he was close to Hinata. Hopefully, they were together now.

Steeling herself, she pulled her weapon, oddly enough a heavy hammer, out of her bag, and held it in front of her defensively. Knowing she would probably get lost either way, she began to stumble blindly through the woods, and trying not to jump at every sound the forest made.

* * *

 

Lev knew that he wasn’t smart, at least not in the way you needed to be for school, but he’d thought he’d been doing at least a little better in his classes. 

“Boys Ten, Haiba Lev.”

Finally. He jogged out the door, and through the tunnel, taking advantage of his long legs. He was blinded momentarily by the outdoors, even though it only seemed to be late afternoon. Looking around the clearing, he felt his blood run cold, when he saw the corpse of Kenma Kozume lying underneath a large tree, throat slit and blood everywhere. There was another large splatter of blood elsewhere in the clearing, but he didn’t know who it came from.

Instead, he decided to run. There weren’t any danger zones in that area, and running would give him some time to think.

Nearly an hour later, he reached a tall oak tree near a small river. He sat down under the oak, looking at the reflection of the sun on the water, and rooting around in the bag. Something in his bag was really heavy, and he pulled out a lead pipe. Figures.

There was also food, and he tore off half a roll and drank around two thirds of a water bottle before he remembered that he’d have to make it last. He brought his hand to his forehead, mumbling “Idiot.” to himself, until Lev noticed an awkward rustling in the brush behind him, and he clutched the pipe protectively in a defensive stance.

Suddenly, Yaku staggered out of the bushes, bleeding heavily, particularly out of his right eye and collapsed right in front of him.

“Y-Yaku-san?” Lev asked hesitantly, as though he wasn’t sure. 

“Lev?” Yaku grunted back. 

“Yaku-san! What happened? Why are you covered in blood?”

Yaku peeled himself off of the ground, and managed to drag himself into a sitting position, leaning against a tree and panting heavily. Lev could see now that Yaku was... missing an eye? His face was wrapped loosely with part of his jacket, tied awkwardly around his head.

“Lev, calm down. It was just a nasty run in with... somebody. Just... can you get some water out of my bag?” 

His voice was more weak and defeated than Lev had ever heard it. “Sure.” Lev grabbed the bottle.

“Lev?” 

“Hm?”

“Can you... can you help me?” Tears were rising quickly in Yaku’s remaining eye, and he was sniffling a little, clearly trying not to break down.

Lev nodded. “Sure, Yaku-san. Here...” He took the jacket off of Yaku’s head, grimacing at the mess that was roughly half of his face. He took off his own jacket, and dripped some water onto it, and pressed it onto Yaku’s eye. The smaller boy winced in pain, but Lev knew that he was doing the right thing. He continued until Yaku’s face was clean. Yaku was deathly pale, and his teeth were chattering, even though it was a sunny day out. Lev took Yaku’s bloody jacket and wrapped it around the smaller boy’s shoulders.

“So, Yaku-san, why didn’t you tell me you’re a g-”

The rest of the sentence died in his throat as Yaku glared at him, with not only anger in his eye, but also betrayal. “Don’t. I’m not. I’m not, I’m not a girl, so don’t finish that sentence.”

Lev nodded, slightly intimidated. “Okay. Yeah... but it explains why you’re so sh-”

“Stop. Stop, Lev. If you don’t cut it out...” Yaku looked like he was going to cry. “Don’t...”

Lev backpedaled. “I’m sorry, Yaku-san! I didn’t mean to upset you! It’s just... Why didn’t you tell me?” He tried to hide the betrayal in his voice, but Yaku picked up on it anyways.

“Why didn’t I tell you? Why didn’t I tell anyone on the team except Kuroo and Nekomata? I only told him because I needed to so I could compete! Because it was none of your business!”

“Oh.” Lev had seen Yaku with many different expressions, from amused to disappointed to angry to upset, but never had he seen him like this. Yaku was on the verge of tears, biting his lip, and wrapping his arms around himself, his breathing jagged and his face pale and sweaty from blood loss.

“I’m... I’m so sorry. I shouldn't've pushed you like that. You’re right, it had nothing to do with me. Sorry.” Lev reached out and hugged his older teammate, wrapping his long arms around Yaku, practically enveloping him. The hug was more than a little awkward, what with the height difference, and the fact that Yaku was still leaning against the tree, but it seemed to be working.

It was, until Yaku burst into tears, the salty liquid stinging his damaged eye. He grabbed Lev, and pressed himself into the larger boy, clinging to him like some sort of koala. Lev’s shirt was soaked with tears and snot and blood, but he’d never felt happier. Yaku trusted him. Yaku would be okay. If Yaku was okay, he would be too. That’s how it worked, wasn’t it? He’d have to find out more about the gruesome eye injury, but that could wait until later. In fact, when it came to Yaku, Lev figured that nearly everything else could be pushed to a different time.

* * *

 

“Girls ten, Ennoshita Chikara.”

Ennoshita sighed, knowing that his class rank really ought to be higher than that, but also that he was in class with some competitive people. After all, class rank hadn’t been decided by actual class, but by performance. 

But petty grades aside, he was somewhat upset that he’d just been outed like that, even knowing that everyone would probably find out eventually. That said, until now he’d managed to keep it between Daichi, Ukai and Takeda, and his closest friends, Kinnoshita and Narita. 

Was it too much to ask to keep some things a secret anymore? Nonetheless, he walked over to the front of the room, locking eyes with both Kinnoshita and Narita before taking his bag and leaving. He hoped that it hadn’t looked like a goodbye.

* * *

 

“Boys eleven, Tanaka Ryuunosuke.”

Finally. Tanaka was itching to get out of his seat, and get out of this awful room. The metallic, coppery smell of blood was starting to permeate everything, and it sickened him. He grabbed the bag and started off in a jog, and after reaching the outdoors, simply took a deep breath. 

Then, he took off once again, much faster than before. He enjoyed the sensation of the wind burning his lungs, and the muscles in his arms expanding and contracting rhythmically.

After he could no longer breathe, he stopped. With no idea of where he was, he sat down, and opened his bag. He rooted around through its contents, pulling out the map and compass, not that he knew how to read them. Suddenly, he smiled unable to stop a laugh from bubbling up out of his throat and into the air.

The weapons the he’d been given were the best possible choice for him, and as he wiped a tear from the corner of his eyes, he burst into a round of fresh laughter. He wouldn’t use the grenades to kill anyone, he told himself, but Tanaka Ryuunosuke was going to have himself some fun. 

* * *

 

“Girls eleven, Hinata Sho- oh.” The gamekeeper smirked and eyed Kageyama over his aluminum clipboard. “Nevermind. Boy’s twelve, Kageyama Tobio.”

Kageyama, long since left behind by Sugawara, peeled himself off of the floor in a daze, and reached out with trembling fingers to grab the bag that was offered to him. 

He took off outside the tunnel, forcing himself to run farther and farther away, the smell of blood still permeating his nose. The features of the forest blurred, along with everything else, and he had to talk to himself to keep sane. 

“It’s just another endurance run. You split off from the team. Everything is fine, and if you run a little further, you can catch up with Hinata.”

Repeating the mantra to himself kept him in check, stopped him from crumbling to the ground in a heap like he wanted to. When he was a ways away, he saw a building. It was decrepit and run down, but it was better than nothing. He stepped inside, the floorboards creaking beneath him, on high alert, watching for any signs of life, but there was nothing. The shelter was empty, and he found it oddly fitting. He dropped the bag inside the entryway and walked over to a corner and collapsed. 

He exhaled, and finally took a moment to let the last hour catch up with him, and it hit hard. It felt like a dream, and Kageyama refused to believe it. Hinata was still alive, he had to be. You couldn’t kill the sun. He giggled a little at the notion. Hinata Shouyou was alive, and waiting for Kageyama somewhere. That’s right. Hinata is alive. Hinata is alive. Hinata is alive, Hinata is ali ve, Hinatai sali veHina tais al i v e. 

If that wasn’t true, then nothing was. Yeah. But there was another thing troubling Kageyama. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

It was a fair question. They’d known each other almost a year, and that kind of thing isn’t something that would have devastated the bond between them. Especially not between best friends. That was what they were, weren’t they?

The kicker was, that Kageyama would have accepted him. He didn’t care whether or not Hinata didn’t have a dick, all he wanted was for the kid to hit his tosses. He shook his head. “No. That isn’t what I wanted, it’s what I want. Because Hinata  is alive. And he  has  a lot to answer for.” 

With both of those things out of the way, he was free to investigate his bag. There was the food, water, map and compass, as expected, but the weapon was a bit... puzzling.

It looked to be a mace, and even that made him think of Hinata. They were, no,are the two oni, given clubs. 

“I bet Hinata got a matching one.” Kageyama snickered to himself. Everything was fine. All that he had to do now, was find Hinata, which he could easily do with his resources, and his fancy weapon. Yes, everything was under control.

* * *

 

Bokuto couldn’t help but fidget in his seat until his name was called. The room was saturated with the smell of Hinata’s blood and the aura of seriousness that he couldn’t stand, unless it was in a game.

Not to mention Akaashi, his teammate and friend, who had been literally the first one out the door. While the teacher had explained that rankings weren’t decided by what class you were in as opposed to how you were doing, he knew that it didn’t matter to Akaashi, because he was on top no matter what. 

That wasn’t enough to stop him from feeling lonely. With Kuroo and Tsukishima out in the arena, and Hinata... gone, there wasn’t anyone left in the room that he was really close too. 

He was so busy wallowing in this loneliness that he almost missed his name when it was called. 

“Boys thirteen, Bokuto Koutaru.”

Bokuto bounced over to grab his bag, and broke into a steady jog heading out of the tunnel. Sticking his nose in the air, he sniffed suspiciously.Was it just him, or was the smell of blood still there?

“Oh.” was all he could stutter out, when he saw Kenma’s body lying on the ground, underneath the tree. He bowed to the body, as a sign of respect to the setter, but knew he had to hurry on his way. There was a killer out there, and he needed to make sure that Akaashi and Kuroo and Tsukishima were safe.

“If nothing else,” he muttered under his breath, “I will save my friends.”

* * *

 

Yamamoto was so excited to get the hell out of that room, and practically bowled a soldier over on his way out. He needed to stop, though, once he got out of the tunnel. 

Seeing the corpse of your setter lying broken on the ground can do that, coupled with the fear of knowing that there’s at least one killer out there. He never claimed to be a math wizard, but he knew that even one murderer out there spelled out trouble for all of them.

After adjusting the shoulder strap on his bag, he took off, strangely unafraid of whatever lay before him.

* * *

 

“Girls fifteen, Nishinoya Yuu.”

This was very embarrassing for Nishinoya for several reasons. Academically, he was dead last, and as a result he was the last person to be thrown into the hell scape. For whatever it was worth, the only person who had found out his secret today was that Hideo kid. He’d looked a little surprised as he’d shuffled out of the classroom, but nonetheless thankful that he wasn’t the literal last person to leave.

Nishinoya had been there for an hour, slowly watching the few people in the world that he loved like family, trickling out of the classroom, in despair. It didn’t help to be sitting near the corpse of his beloved friend. According to Hinata, he was one of the only people he’d told about being trans, and he remembered the enthusiastic redhead asking for binding tips, eyes wide and not quite trusting, but getting there.

He remembered taking him binder shopping one day, and showing him a good way to dive in a sports bra the next, and then getting pork buns afterward. 

He let the memories distract him as his classmates and friends slowly left, one by one. It took his mind off of his loneliness, and sense of impending doom. Objectively, there was no way that he was going to survive this. He was barely five feet tall, and while he had a ton of stamina, in close quarters he’d be a goner. Plus, he had no idea where anybody was. 

When his name was called, though, he grabbed the bag and started running. When he got outside, he didn’t stop, but ran until he nearly crashed into a tree. The late afternoon sun blinded him, and he almost missed some of the disturbing details in the otherwise idyllic scene. 

One of these details was the corpse of Nekoma’s setter. The poor kid had their throat slashed open, with crusted blood covering their face. Then, there was that strange puddle on the other side of the clearing, which was a suspicious mess, but then again, this entire scenario was a suspicious mess, so he wasn’t sure why he was surprised.

He continued to run, until he couldn’t feel his legs. However, he could see the sun going down, and he felt a chill as dew started to form on the grass. He figured his best bet was to find a place to sleep for the night. Thankfully, he saw a small grove of pine trees, and laid down underneath one. While it wasn’t comfy, it was doable, and he figured that after the day he’d had, a good night's sleep was the least that the universe owed him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how was that? Apologies once again for the nightmarish update schedule. Please leave comments if you have time or questions, because I cannot stress what an inspiration they are.


	6. Intermission 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes. I am doing these. But this is some important stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is unbetaed, but I wanted to get it out there. I'll probably upload a revised version tomorrow. Enjoy.

    Important things to note at this point:

  * All thirty of the people in the games were headed to go and see a fancy game of sorts, and the schools we’ve seen in the series from both Tokyo and Miyagi are headed to the same place, and shared the bus to save money.

    * The reason that there are so few people from the other schools is because there was a permission form that parents had to sign, and for some reason or another kids couldn’t make it/ didn’t get the form signed.

  * People are in their school uniforms, but with practice jackets. I’m too lazy to design outfits for everyone, and this makes sense to me.

  * The bus was hit with knockout gas, and took the kids to an abandoned island, just like in the original Battle Royale.

  * The collars are all programmed with trackers, (Kenma’s tracker works by picking up on the signals, but the device can’t tell individual signals apart, and as such only shows them as blips on a radar).

    * These collars also have explosives, which can be triggered by remote and are triggered when kids enter a danger zone.

  * Contestants cannot escape the island. It is well guarded, and should they try to leave they will be shot on sight, or, if their collars are still in range, blown up.

  * All contenders are given black duffel bags, which contain enough food, (bread), and water for roughly two days, as well as a map and compass, and a mystery weapon.

    * These weapons were not chosen at random, but placed in specific bags. Since all of the bags look the same, the kids don’t know this. Weapon choice was both deliberate and meant to be ironic.

  * The kids are released not by the class they are in, but by how they are performing in the class that they are in. Apologies to Ennoshita, because he should be so much higher.

    * They are also released by the gender they were assigned at birth, and no preferential treatment is given to people who aren’t cis.




* * *

 

Here is this nice organized registry of all of the contestants, and I'd like to once again apologize to Ennoshita, (he always gets the short end of the stick). Underlined names are people whose perspectives I didn't write from, (the oc's plus Kinoshita and Narita), and the bolded names are the dead people.

 

**Rank**

| 

**DMAB**

| 

**DFAB**  
  
---|---|---  
  
1.

| 

Akaashi, Keiji

| 

Yamaguchi, Tadashi  
  
2.

| 

Sawamura, Daichi

| 

Sugawara, Koushi  
  
3.

| 

Ushijima, Wakatoshi

| 

Michimiya, Yui  
  
4.

| 

Inouka, Sou

| 

Shimizu, Kiyoko  
  
5.

| 

Iwaizumi, Hajime

| 

Oikawa, Tooru  
  
6.

| 

Akane

| 

Rei  
  
7.

| 

Tsukishima, Kei

| 

Yaku, Morisuke  
  
8.

| 

Azumane, Asahi

| 

**Kozume, Kenma**  
  
9.

| 

Kuroo, Tetsuro

| 

Yachi, Hitoka  
  
10.

| 

Haiba, Lev

| 

Ennoshita, Chikara  
  
11.

| 

Tanaka, Ryuunosuke

| 

**Hinata, Shouyou**  
  
12.

| 

Kageyama, Tobio

| 

Kinoshita, Hisashi  
  
13.

| 

Bokuto, Koutarou

| 

Narita, Kazuhito  
  
14.

| 

Yamamoto, Taketora

| 

Hazuki  
  
15.

| 

Hideo

| 

Nishinoya, Yuu  
  
* * *

 

(This next bit is inspired by battlestuck: afterlife. I wanted to provide some sort of closure with these characters, and I think that this is the best way to do it. As you can see, it’s still in the same fic, and with some different plot points, because I tried to make it as different as possible while still retaining the concept. I think I’m going to call it The Coda, but no, that title isn't finalized.)

    When Hinata Shouyou woke up, it wasn’t to a classroom, with walls lined with soldiers.

It was to a significantly more comfortable room, that looked like a community center of sorts, filled with comfy looking chairs and beds, with a kitchen off to the side, and were those... beds?

    “Hinata? You’re here too?”

    Hinata turned around, and saw Takeda and Ukai, with some other coaches in the background, all of them with puzzled expressions on their faces.

    “Takeda-sensei? Coach Ukai? What am I...” It hit him. Everything that happened since he’d woken up in that classroom. He remembered the garish explanation by the man in the suit, and the tight feeling of a collar around his neck, like he was some sort of animal. He remembered seeing the bodies of the two men standing in front of him, full of holes and stained crimson with blood.

    He remembered a bullet tearing through him, and his last moments, spent with Kageyama clinging to his side.

    “Oh. I... I...” He couldn’t stop the tears that rushed to his eyes, and the sob that rushed to his throat.

    “Oi! Hinata!” Ukai barked gruffly.

    “Y-Yes?”

    The coach smiled at him softly, and opened his arms, beckoning Hinata forward. “It’s okay. Nothing bad can happen to you anymore. Everything is going to be okay.”

    Takeda nodded in affirmation, and opened his arms as well. Hinata rushed into them, and cried himself out in both of their arms. When he recovered enough to speak, he asked, “How do you know what happened?”

    Both of the frowned in unison. “In another room, there’s a screen. The other coaches are there now, watching this stupid competition play out.

    Hinata heard a shout from the other room. “YAKU, WHAT THE HELL!” followed by sniffles and choking sounds.

    A few minutes later, Kenma appeared in the room.

    “Kenma?”

    Kenma cocked their head to the side, before smiling brightly. They signed out Hinata’s name.

    Hinata nodded, glad to see his friend once again. “Wait a minute... If you’re here, then...”

    Kenma looked confused for a few seconds, before the realization seemed to hit. They were dead. If they were in this room, then they had died. “Yaku killed me.” He signed out, each movement deliberate and slow.

    “Oh. Isn’t he... your libero?”

    Kenma nodded.

    “Oh...”

    Kenma shrugged. “I forgive him.” they signed out, and Hinata breathed a sigh of relief.

    “Well now that you’re here, what do you want to do?”

    Their fingers flew. “Whatever you want. It looks like we have all the time in the world.”

**  
  
**


	7. Tsukishima and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day [Part 2]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not too much, just setting up things mostly, but it's all important stuff. Things are going down the slow road to the death and destruction of all of your faves ; ) Also, thanks again to our wonderful beta, Haikawaiikitten!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me!! Part two begins, and the body count will be rising shortly. It should be noted that I am having way too much fun with this au. Way too much.

Tsukishima was having a horrible day. Everyone on that godforsaken island was having a horrible day, but for some reason, he felt that his bad day trumped everyone else's.

He was stuck on this stupid island until either he died or killed everyone else, but the latter didn’t seem likely when his only weapon was a pocket dictionary. Seriously, why was that even in the weapon registry?

With all of his grumbling, and generally being finicky, he didn’t even pay attention to the rustling around him. He was too busy searching for Yamaguchi, and complaining about literally everything.

So it came as a bit of a surprise when none other than Ushijima Wakatoshi himself emerged from behind a tree, looking as menacing as he always did.

It was even more of a shock when Ushijima charged at him, with a pan lid of all things. “At least I’m not the only one with a dumb weapon.” he muttered, as he barely dodged the older boy’s strike.

Ushijima pulled back, balancing on his toes in a serious fighting stance, and grit his teeth before charging again. This time, Tsukishima wasn’t fast enough to avoid the blow to his knees, and he took the brunt of it with his left knee.

There was some sort of cracking sound, and when he fell, his entire leg burning up with an intense pain that he’d never felt before.

Unscathed, Ushijima jumped back, but he looked nervous.

Tsukishima didn’t know what to do with what was, likely, a broken knee, and faced with perhaps the best volleyball player in the damn prefecture. No, he had no idea what to do with himself. So, he screamed.

 

* * *

 

 

To say that Daichi and Suga were scared would be the understatement of the century. Both of them sat, leaning up against the tree trunk in the evening light, watching the sunset pierce through the trees.

It was a flaming scarlet, vaguely reminiscent of blood, and the thought made Suga a little nauseous. Daichi leaned his head into Suga’s shoulder, breathing softly and sleepily, and his eyes were closed. Suga rested their head on Daichi’s, relishing the feeling of the soft, short locks tickling their face. Both of their bags rested on either side of them, ready to grab, and while Suga had unzipped their binder, they left it on in case they both needed to run.

Daichi’s head lolled on Suga’s chest, and was that... drool? Suga frowned, but didn’t push him away. Both of them needed human affection right now, after the day they’d had.

Daichi stirred, looking dazed for a few moments, like he’d forgotten where they were. Then, it seemed to hit like a freight train, and he recoiled, knocking his head into Suga’s chin.

“Suga? Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Suga rubbed their chin, and pulled a strained smile onto their face. “Don’t worry about it.”

Daichi sighed. “It’s just... I... I had a dream about Hinata.”

“Oh.” Suga hadn’t been expecting that. “Oh. Do you... Do you want to talk about it?”

Daichi nodded. “It was right before he joined the team, and we weren’t even at practice or in the gym. It was more of a memory than a dream. But... He was so nervous, and he was clutching his stomach in that way that he used to do when he was scared. He was holding his paperwork, shaking all over the place. Then, he came out to us. Remember?”

Suga nodded. “I remember. We told him about Noya, and promised that his sex didn’t matter if he identified as a boy. His face lit up like it was Christmas, and he... He hugged both of us, and I could feel him shaking. That was the first time we really got to meet him.”

Daichi smiled wistfully at Suga. “I remember. It’s still sinking in, I guess.”

Grabbing his hand, Suga smiled in return. “I know what you mean. We were heading to a volleyball game, Daichi. Who would have thought that it’d turn out like this?”

Both of them sat like that for a while, silent, shoulders pressed up against one another.

After a while, Daichi broke the silence "Suga?”

“Hm?”

“What do you think is going to happen to us?” The undercurrent of fear in his voice was mostly stifled, but still there.

Suga shrugged. “I don’t know. But...”

“But...”

“Nothing bad can happen if we stick together.”

Daichi sighed. “I see why they call you mom behind your back.”

Suga burst out into a fit of laughter, nearly wheezing. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t that funny, but it’s... Oh boy, they don’t say that behind my back. Hina-” They froze.

The tension thickened once again, and Suga had to choke back a lump in their throat. “Hinata used to call me ‘Mom’ to my face. The first time it was an accident, and he blushed really hard afterward. But all of the times after that... he just said it so naturally. I-” Suga choked out a sob. “I never got to say goodbye! It’s not right, Daichi! That kid put so much trust in us, and we couldn’t save him!”

Daichi pulled Suga to his chest, stroking their hair. “It's okay, Suga. It wasn’t your fault. Hinata... No one could have saved him. Don’t blame yourself, alright. If you do...”

Suga met Daichi’s eyes, theirs dripping with tears, and his calm and comforting. They sniffled. “You’ll what, Daichi?”

“I’ll sock you one.”

Suga burst into a fit of laughter, even though their face was still a mess. “You’re so horrible, Daichi!”

Smiling victoriously, Daichi agreed. “You’re right. But, it made you stop crying, so it worked!”

Suga blushed, looking every bit the innocent angel the team knew them to be. “I take that back,” they said, even though it was pretty obvious they never meant it in the first place. “You aren’t that bad after all.”

Daichi shrugged. “I know.”

Both of them looked up at the sky, now darkening, and felt the chill that was settling in the air. Together, they silently curled into one another for warmth. They fell asleep like that.

 

* * *

Kageyama was well and truly lost. Between Hinata and himself, his sense of direction had always been superior.

The map was useless, when all of the surrounding forest looked exactly the same. He shoved it in his bag, and held closely to the club. It wouldn’t be good against, say, a gun, but in close quarters he could probably defend himself. Walking mindlessly ahead, he kept on going, crashing through wave after wave of forest and shrubbery.

"I have to get to Hinata quickly," he muttered, "that kid is probably more lost than I am."

 

* * *

Akaashi was very comfortable in the tree. More so than he expected to be, seeing as he had just been thrown into a fight to the death, and watched someone die. Thankfully, he couldn’t smell blood anymore, and the harsh scent was replaced with the fragrance of the forest.

In the mean time, he had focused on breathing deeply and evenly, and evaluating the situation as rationally as possible. If Akaashi had things his way, Hinata’s death would be the last, and all of them could leave the island together. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like that was going to happen. Best case scenario, he found Bokuto, Kuroo, and Kenma. Worst case scenario, he died.

He shifted his supplies to a niche in a higher branch. He smoothed his jacket out in the nook that he’d been sitting in, and relaxed against the tree. The sun was starting to set, and soon he’d be able to sleep. Well, he would be able to sleep, but every time he closed his eyes, he saw Hinata’s death replaying in his mind over and over again. Objectively, he hadn’t even been that close to the kid, and it was Bokuto who’d gone out of his way to interact with him. But his death hurt him all the same.

The tree that he’d been sitting in was apparently home to some birds. They weren’t owls or crows, but simple sparrows. The nest had been empty, but he could hear the chirps of birds returning to their home for the night. He wished that he too could go home, sleep in his own bed, talk with his parents, and that he could look forward to his weekend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was mostly happy things but yeah. I have most of the next bit I'm planning to write already written, but I have to try to keep the updates even because I'm starting to school and if anything slows my creative mojo or whatever you call it, it's good old fashioned publication. Also I'm leaving cliffhangers everywhere and I'm honestly not even sorry anymore.


	8. Solitude and Confrontation [Part 2]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I like to make my titles either explanatory or poetic. If I'm lucky, they end up being both. This title ended up being moreso the former than the latter, but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ I do what I can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here's the next part! Once again thanks to haikawaiikitten, our wonderful beta! On a side note, flashbacks are going to be done differently depending on how I feel about it, (sometimes it will just be written in a different tense, and other times it will be italicized. I think y'all can figure it out). Without further ado, chapter 8 of ASHRI, or, And So History Repeats Itself.

Dreaming of his teammates, much like he’d been for the last few weeks, put Nishinoya at ease. Most of the dreams were memories, both happy and not.

This was one of the less pleasant ones.

_“Sawamura-san? Sugawara-san?”_

_Nishinoya was a first year again, and for all of his brash attitude and bravado, he was also a kid, and a kid with secrets at that. Practice had just ended, and it had been rough. Ukai didn’t have a reputation for nothing. Also, Nishinoya had been dumb enough to try to do it in his binder, and were it not for his superhuman stamina, he probably would have died about twenty minutes ago._

_The two second years, though, had simply chuckled, lightening the mood. “Noya, you don’t need to be so formal. Please, just Daichi and Suga is fine.” The dark haired boy had grinned, and the silver haired one gave him a truly heartwarming smile, all clearly attempts to make him feel less uneasy._

_“Okay then, Daichi and Suga... I have something that I think I need to tell you guys...”_

_“If it’s that you’re interested in Asahi, we know, and we don’t care. No one on the team will judge you.”_

_Noya blushed, somewhat uncharacteristically. “No! It’s not... I don’t have a crush on Asahi, and that isn’t what I wanted to tell you about.”_

_The mood became more serious._

_“What did you come here to talk about, Noya?” Suga ventured._

_“I... I don’t.... I...” He was trembling, because he couldn’t make the words come out of his mouth. So instead, he did what he was known for; acting first, thinking later._

_He lifted his shirt just enough to expose the bottom of the garment, and Suga and Daichi’s eyes widened in shock._

_“Noya! That’s...”_

_Nishinoya was terrified, dreading whatever would come out of Suga’s mouth next._

_“It’s dangerous to wear that during practice! You could have gotten hurt!” Suga was so angry, tears threatening at the corners of their eyes, and Daichi simply grit his teeth together._

_“Noya, Suga’s right. As soon as you get to the locker room, you need to take it off, and whatever you do, make sure you don’t do something like this again. I promise no one here is going to judge you, and who you were before you got to this school is frankly, no one’s business as long as you feel comfortable. But you have to keep yourself safe, no matter what.” Daichi had on that stern fatherly expression that practically dared Noya to disagree with him._

_Suga stepped in, sharing their two cents as well. “Daichi is right. No one here will judge you, but what you did today was really dangerous. I don’t even want to know how often you’ve done it before now, but it’s good we had this conversation sooner rather than later. We promise that you’ll be safe from people who’d judge you, if that’s what you’re worried about, but you have to keep yourself safe as well. And don’t even think of using those bandages. Ever. Now, please go to the locker room and get changed, and Noya?”_

_“Y-yeah?”_

_“Promise us that you’re going to take care of yourself.”_

Noya nodded eagerly, happy that his senpais understood what he was going through, and he didn’t even think to ask how until he was laying in his bed that night, replaying the scene again and again in his head.

Nishinoya woke from his nap, eyes bleary, to see that the sun had just finished setting. In hindsight, that wasn’t the worst memory that could have come to mind, but he’d been hoping for something  a little happier.

He decided to set out again, in search of literally anyone else, (namely, Asahi, or Daichi and Suga, or Tanaka, or anyone from Karasuno), but something told him that he wasn’t going to find them.

 

* * *

 

He felt the pull of the muscle in his arms as he drew his arrow back. Kuroo listened closely for the sound of rustling in the surrounding brush, and sure enough, he heard it. Pulling it all the way back to the corner of his mouth, he prepared to fire at whatever came through. He was expecting a male, given the sound of the footsteps, and someone of substantial height.

What he was not expecting was a very confused Kageyama Tobio.

In his surprise, he released the arrow, which sailed into the brush behind the disgruntled setter, who dropped the club that he’d been carrying, and whose jaw fell open at the sight of Nekoma’s captain.

“Holy shi-””Kageyama?”

They spoke in unison, before Kuroo burst into a round of laughter. He had been expecting scary competition, maybe one of the powerhouse kids, like Oikawa, but in reality the only thing standing before him was a confused and terrified child.

Kageyama didn’t find the situation quite so humorous, but broke into a smile at the sight of a familiar face. “Kuroo? Do you know where Hinata is?”

Kuroo immediately sobered at the question. “Hinata’s dead.”

Shaking his head, Kageyama eerily responded. “No he isn’t. The dumbass is just waiting for me! I don’t know where he is though...”

Not entirely sure what to say to that, Kuroo shrugged. “If you say so. I guess Kenma’s waiting with him...” He trailed off, not wanting to think about it anymore.

“I bet you’re right! Do you want to look for them together? Two people can search better than one, and you can’t tell Hinata this, but I’m not that good at finding my way around.”

Kageyama’s face shone with so much childish innocence and naivete that Kuroo couldn’t refuse. He nodded, and watched as the setter’s eyes came to life. “Sure, but only for a little bit, alright?”

Kageyama eagerly nodded in return. “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll find them soon!”

Kuroo grimaced, hoping that they didn’t.

It was halfway through it’s conception when Kuroo realized that what he’d been making was a hit list.

Kageyama was vigilant enough for both of them, and Kuroo could tell that he wouldn’t turn on him as long as he got to see Hinata endgame.

That quality could be extremely useful to implement his plan. He wanted to win for Kenma, because while he didn’t want to live without them, he could also live for them, and besides, what were the odds he made it to the end anyways?

Thinking about it, Oikawa was at the top of his list. Of the captains, Kuroo trusted him the least. Something about his eyes, and how they always had this look like he knew something that you didn’t. He was dangerous. He’d put off worrying about his friends until the end, but if he got a chance to fight Yaku... He brushed the thought away. Getting rid of Oikawa took priority. Not to mention, if he died, Iwaizumi, who was always following him around, would be sure to give up.

Having made up his mind, Kuroo walked with more deliberation.

Kuroo and Kageyama had been walking together for a while, in silence, when Kuroo hesitantly broke it.

“Hey, Kageyama?”

“Yeah?”

“So... About finding Kenma and Hinata...”

“What about it?”

“Well...” Kuroo didn’t know what exactly to say. He should have thought about it a bit more before he spoke. “Is it alright if I have you do something first? There’s something that needs to happen before I can take you to see him.”

“What kind of something were you planning?” Kageyama’s midnight eyes shone innocently, and it was almost enough to make Kuroo regret the words that came out of his mouth next.

“I need you to dethrone the Grand King.”

* * *

 

 

Rooting through the contents of his bag, Yamaguchi Tadashi searched for anything that could actually be useful to him.

He shoved the food into one corner of the large bag, and withdrew the map and compass. He had aced the navigation unit in middle school gym class, but he didn’t remember any of the information now, (he silently cursed himself for forgetting).

He pulled out his weapon, a decent size handgun, and a large box of bullets. He didn’t recognize the insignia printed into the handle, but this was definitely not a toy.

It was heavy, a cold weight in his shaking hands. He sat down on the ground, sitting on top of his bag. Weighing the moral dilemma of loading the gun versus not loading the gun, he eventually decided to cram the bullets into the magazine.

His to do or not to do dilemma was halted by the sound of movement from a nearby tree.

Still trembling, Yamaguchi pushed the remaining bullets and magazine into the gun, and slid the safety off as slowly and carefully as he was able. He still winced at the little click sound that it made, and knew that whoever was there with him had heard it.

Finally, he managed to get into position, and daringly called out. “Who’s there?” His voice was about an octave higher than usual, and he winced at the voice crack.

One of the girls that he hadn’t known stepped out from behind a tree. Her hair was dark, and in a neat ponytail, and the only indication that anything was amiss was the small smudge on her bright red glasses. Her uniform was neat, and the black duffel didn’t look at all out of place on her shoulder. She was calm, and her face was neutral. It was really only the staff in her hands, pointed at Yamaguchi, that tipped him off to her true intentions.

“Not that I need to tell you anything, but my name is Rei.”

Yamaguchi nodded. “My name is Ya-”

“Your name is Yamaguchi Tadashi. You’re a first year at Karasuno, and in college prep classes. You play pinch server and your number is twelve.”

Yamaguchi was taken aback. How had she known so much about him, when all that he knew about her was her name?

Seemingly reading his mind, she shrugged, face passive. “I do my research on the people I expect to be around.”

With a nervous chuckle, Yamaguci tried to play of his tension.

Rei was not. She shifted the staff into a fighting position, and narrowed her eyes. Her body was shaking a little, but Yamaguchi was so much worse.

He lifted the gun to around her stomach area, and tried to hold it steady, looping his finger through the trigger, and feeling the weight of everything, crushing him. “P-Please don’t come any closer. I d-don’t want to use this.”

She took a step forward, challenging him with her eyes, then another and another. The distance between them hadn’t been large, but she was closing it with quickly.

“H-Hey! Didn’t you hear me?” He was breathing so hard now that he wouldn’t have been able to hear her if she’d spoken, and there was a ringing sound in his ears. His entire body was so shaky...

She charged, running at him, and raised her staff above her head. If he let her, she was going to kill him...

Yamaguchi shut his eyes and pulled the trigger.

 

* * *

 

 

While he never had a stellar sense of direction, Bokuto never expected to be this lost. He had heard from Kuroo all about Kenma’s inability to navigate, but his own sense of direction was usually sound.

He was still searching for Kuroo, Tsukki, and Akaashi, but he was distracted with thoughts of Kenma.

Back when Bokuto and Kuroo first started to hang out, Kuroo wasn’t closely attached to too many people besides the small setter, but at the time, they still went by he.

Bokuto’s first impression hadn’t necessarily been a great one, but the kid had grown on him. In fact, when he had met Kenma, he thought the kid hated him, because they almost never looked Bokuto in the eye and spoke really softly.

One day he had asked Kuroo, “By the way, do you know if Kenma hates me?”

Kuroo had burst out laughing. “No, why would you think that?”

Bokuto had been confused. “Well, Kenma doesn’t act very social around me, and he-”

“They.” Kuroo had looked Bokuto dead in the eye. It wasn’t the first time Bokuto had messed up Kenma’s pronouns. Maybe that was why they didn’t like him.

“They. They don’t really look me in the eye and stuff. They’re super quiet around me, and I feel like I’m making them uncomfortable, you know?”

Kuroo just shook his head, smiling. “Kenma doesn’t mind you. I promise. They just... like to keep to themselves, and you like to do, well, the opposite of that.”

“Oh. Oh, I see. So I was worried for nothing?”

Kuroo nodded. “Yeah. Kenma doesn’t really hate people, he just doesn’t go out of his way to shower them with affection. You’re good man.”

Bokuto had breathed a sigh of relief, glad to be on the setter’s good side. Back then, things had been much simpler. He didn’t have nearly as much to worry about. All he had to do was take his medicine, pass his classes, and play volleyball.

He was jolted out of his reverie by the the clenching of his arm. He hadn’t meant to do that. Bokuto felt his limbs begin to shake, and it wasn’t from grief. Panic surged through him, as he realized that he hadn’t taken his medicine that morning, right before the trip, and what with everything going on now, he probably wasn’t going to get to it for the rest of the games. He managed to get down underneath a tree before he forgot what he was doing, and let the spasms surge through his body as they pleased.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so here is where things start heating up a little more and I apologize in advance. I'm trying to spread out the deaths a little more and they ended up being more spread out than I anticipated... I am in so far over my head writing this and this may actually be my first work to reach one hundred thousand words. You read that right. I am in it for the long haul. The next update may not be for a while because school, but for my readers, only the best!


	9. Bedtime Stories [Part 2]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the last part of part two, and do you know what that means? It means DEATH, and SUFFERING, and EMOTIONAL TRAUMA!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is nothing I can say to defend myself. When will the government stop my sinful hand. Once again, thanks to Haikawaiikitten for betaing this utter disaster.

Tanaka had taken one grenade out of the bag, as well as a roll of bread, but he’d been walking and eating for at least an hour.

He didn’t bother with the map, partly because he didn’t know how to read it, and he also ignored essentially all of his surrounding area. His thoughts were focused on something, or more accurately, someone else.

“Saeko...” He breathed the name as though she could hear it, and come to comfort him now like she used to when he was genuinely upset.

He missed her a lot, and while that was an understatement of how he felt, it captured the essence of his sorrow. He remembered her in stunning clarity, even though it’d been years since he last saw her.

He could see parts of her in his fierce but easygoing nature, and in the way his smiles pulled more at his left cheek than his right. He could see her in the way he stood and held himself.

To say that he didn’t think about her a lot would be a lie, but he hadn’t taken the time to really remember her in a long time.

When he saw her last, she looked relieved, because she had done what she could to protect the one she cared about. When she left, he had cried a lot, and been so sad and angry for months afterwards that he almost got kicked off of the team he was on.

No matter what happened, he promised himself that one way or another he’d get to see her again.

 

* * *

Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita, had a code of sorts. Essentially, if the three of them were separated, the trio would try to meet up at the back  right corner of whatever building they were at.

The strategy had never failed them yet, and it really came in handy if they all broke off from the main crowd, and the corners had become a frequent hangout spot for the three of them.

He went around to the back of the building and sat there, waiting. He sat there for about ten minutes, and he kept track by counting the sounds of people running out of the tunnel. Those ten minutes felt like a million years, and Ennoshita was actually starting to sweat in his nervousness. But after they were over, he heard footsteps headed towards the back of the building. It occurred to him briefly that this person coming towards them that the person might not be Kinnoshita or Narita.

He unzipped his bag quickly and drew out his weapon, on the off chance that the person walking around wasn’t there to meet up, and he pulled out a pocket knife. He slid out the small blade, and placed himself in a defensive position, crouching low, and arms out in front of him, almost like he was going to receive.

“Enno-”

”Who are you?”

Both of them froze, and then burst into fits of barely contained nervous giggles. Ennoshita didn’t have anything to be afraid of, because the person who’d come around the corner was just Kinoshita.

About four minutes later, Narita ran around the corner, and the three of them had a sappy reunion of sorts.Ennoshita had still gotten down into his defensive stance, and Kinoshita has pulled out his weapon in case. It was a bulletproof vest, and while it wouldn’t do much good in terms of offense, it would probably prove to be handy.

Ennoshita didn’t even want to think about the amount of possible guns floating around the island, and he was better safe than sorry.

However, once again their fear was unwarranted, as Narita walked around the corner.

The three of them stood there, before Kinoshita and Narita moved in for a hug, and pulled Ennoshita in with them.

“Well... What are we going to do?” Kinoshita spoke softly.

Well, wasn’t that the million dollar question.

 

* * *

Iwaizumi and Oikawa had decided to make a perch by the river, instead of moving elsewhere. Both of them had slung their belongings into a tree.

Iwaizumi was looking for some sort of indication of edible wildlife, and Oikawa was busy camouflaging their tree shelter, and making their tacky leaf beds more comfortable.

The two of them had been lucky to find a tree with a small nesting style area in the middle, and while it was tight, both of them fit.

After a while, Iwaizumi decided to call it quits, and head up to join Oikawa. It was getting dark, and the sunset tinged his warm brown curls with scarlet, casting some sort of magic over his already charming appearance.

“Iwa-chan!” he called down, pulling Iwaizumi from his rather dangerous train of thought.

“Not so loud, Shittykawa!” The stage whisper was lost to the bubbling of the river.

“What was that, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa shouted back, louder this time.

“Shut the hell up!” Iwaizumi screamed. Scaling the tree at record speeds, he nearly tackled Oikawa when he got into the tree.

“What did you say before that?” Oikawa asked.

Iwaizumi shrugged. “I told you to be quieter. We don’t know if there are people around. In our position, depending on the weapon, we could be sniped.”

Placing a hand over his mouth Oikawa gasped. “Shit. I didn’t think about all of the other people.”

“It’s alright, but, please be quieter in the future?”

Oikawa nodded. Then, he reached into one of the bags, and pulled out two rolls and a water bottle. “Dinner for two? It’s on me.”

Iwaizumi couldn’t help but smile. “You are full of shit, but I’m hungry, so yes.”

Beaming at him, Oikawa handed him a roll. “They’re out of butter and olive oil and all of that fancy stuff that people put on their bread. Sorry about that.”

Iwaizumi grunted. “It’s not your fault.”

Oikawa was too busy picking at his roll to respond.

Instantly, Iwaizumi knew that something was up. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Oikawa sighed, putting on one of those fake smiles that Iwaizumi detested.

“Bullshit. What’s wrong.” Iwaizumi phrased it like a command this time, in hopes that his friend would answer honestly.

The smile fell, much to Iwaizumi’s relief, but the expression that replaced it almost made him feel worse. “Iwa-chan? Do you feel homesick at all?”

Iwaizumi  thought about it for a second, and much to his own personal shock, he didn’t feel homesick. It wasn’t like his home was bad... His mother and father both loved him, and he was doing well in all his classes and on the team. So why didn’t he miss it? “No, no I don’t actually. I mean I miss the team a little. Matsukawa, Hanamaki, Yahaba, Kyoutani and all them, but I don’t feel homesick.”

Oikawa gaped at him. “How? I miss my family, and Takeru, and even school!”

Shrugging, Iwaizumi looked off to the side. “It’s strange. I-” He trailed off mid sentence. It hit him suddenly why he didn’t feel homesick, but he couldn’t tell Oikawa. After all, Oikawa was the reason why he didn’t feel homesick, because his home was Oikawa, in the same way that it didn’t matter where he played as long as he was playing.

“-an? Iwa-chan? Yoo-hoo. Have you been possessed by aliens?”

Iwaizumi cuffed Oikawa’s head gently. “I’m not possessed.”

Feigning injury, Oikawa pretended to wipe a fake tear from his eye and placed a hand on his heart. “I’m wounded, Iwa-chan. You hurt my heart so-”

For that, Iwaizumi hit him again. “Oi, Assikawa.”

Oikawa cocked his head to the side, eyebrows quirked in inquiry . “Yeah?”

“I think we should go to sleep. I think tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

Oikawa nodded. “Should we sleep in shifts?”

“Sure. I’ll keep watch first. You look wiped.” Iwaizumi wasn’t wrong. The bags under Oikawa’s eyes were impressive by any standard, and it was clear that he was about six seconds from a good snooze.

“Okay Iwa-chan,” he said with a yawn. “I didn’t feel this tired until a few seconds ago.”

A chill had started to settle in, and the two of them had shifted closer together unconsciously. Iwaizumi protectively wrapped Oikawa in his arms when he finally did sleep, using him as a space heater as well as a security blanket, and against his will, he managed to drift off as well.

 

* * *

 

The silence between Lev and Yaku was awkward to say the least. Yaku had been silent since his... meltdown of sorts, and Lev didn’t want to push him, but he also wanted answers. They had stayed leaning against the tree, and Yaku had barely moved.

Lev had rearranged them so that Lev’s back was to the tree, an Yaku’s back was to him, and he curled around the smaller boy protectively. He also tried to transfer some of his warmth, because Yaku was still shivering, and panting heavily. The shorter boy’s body was limp against him, and Lev was definitely worried.

“Hey, Yaku-san?”

“Mmph.”

“Do you think it’d be dinnertime back home?”

“Maybe.”

“Are you hungry at all?” Lev tried to move Yaku away from monosyllabic answers.

“No.”

“I think you should eat. I don’t think you’ve had any food in a while, and you need to keep up your strength.” Despite having a younger sister, Lev wasn’t all that used to taking care of people. Anya was pretty self sufficient, and didn’t need him to prompt her to eat.

“Don’t want any.”

At least that was more than one word. That was progress right. “Well, Yaku-san, I think that you need to eat something.”

Yaku snorted. “You don’t need to baby me.”

Lev scoffed. “I am not babying you! Okay, maybe I am, but you have clearly had a long day, which you still didn’t tell me anything about. Being injured means you need more energy to heal, right?”

“Fine. If it makes you shut up. I just... Fine. Can you get me some bread and water?”

Victory. Lev reached over to Yaku’s bag, and pulled out a bottle of water and half of one of the rolls. He took one of his own rolls, and grabbed his mostly finished bottle of water.

Lev handed Yaku the roll, and he took it with pale and shivering hands. Normally Yaku was warm, and his skin slightly tanned, but now he was white as a sheet.

Lev devoured his food, and finished his water quickly, tossing the empty bottle back in his bag. Yaku, on the other hand, only ate a few bites of food before he had to stop.

“What’s wrong, Yaku-san?”

Yaku shook his head. “It tastes like blood and ashes.”

Not entirely sure what to say to that, Lev went with, “I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.”

Lev took the unfinished roll from his hand, and put it back into the bag. “You’re really tired.”

“No shit.”

Yaku didn’t usually swear, but Lev wasn’t about to call him on it now. “Go to bed.”

“Don’t have one.”

Now he chose to be sassy? “Use me then. I’m already pretty much cuddling you. Just sleep like this.” Deep down, Lev didn’t really want him to sleep, because a part of him thought that he would never wake up, but he knew that if Yaku didn’t get some sleep, he was going to pass out, and if he did that his chances for survival were even lower.

Yaku grunted, before leaning back into Lev, and curling into his chest.

Lev in turn wrapped the smaller boy in his arms, tried to be a blanket. Then, it occurred to him. “Wait, Yaku-san?”

“What.”

“Are you wearing one of those things that Kenma sometimes had on? A... Binder? Is that what it’s called?”

“No. Don’t need it.”

“Oh. Okay. Just checking.”

Yaku curled in on himself, folding into an even tinier ball, and Lev honestly didn’t think it was possible for the third year to make himself any smaller. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Lev asked, confused.

Yaku didn’t respond, and soon Lev heard Yaku’s breathing out into the even rhythm of sleep. He didn’t think that he’d be getting all that much rest tonight, but before he knew it he was drifting off as well.

* * *

 

There was a thud, and it took Yamaguchi a solid minute to try and find the courage to open his eyes. The recoil of the gun had completely thrown his balance, and when he’d fallen, he dropped the damned thing. Thankfully, it wouldn’t go off again, but even knowing it was there kept the adrenalin flowing through his veins. He was slowly curling in on himself, trying not to _feel_ everything so intensely.

Everything was starting to smell like smoke and blood, and he felt his stomach churning aggressively. He knew that he was sweating, but he still felt cold and way too hot and he leaned over from where he was to retch onto the ground. His stomach was empty, but the rising bile burned his throat nonetheless.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his jacket sleeve, and steeled himself to look.

He wished that he hadn’t.

The girl, Rei, was lying on the ground, body sprawled in an awkward position. Her eyes were open and glassy, staring off into the distance, their bright violet color dulled, and her bright red glasses slipping off of her nose. Her dark hair, which looked almost indigo in the afternoon light, was dirty, and splayed around her head like wilted flower petals. The image on it’s own was unsettling, but coupled with the large bullet hole in her chest and the bloodstains around her mouth, the scene was outright gruesome.

Her staff had been thrown to the side, and even the reminder of what she was going to do to him had he not pulled the trigger still didn’t feel enough to justify his actions. How do you explain the act of taking a human life?

Yamaguchi didn’t feel real anymore, like his body was just an illusion, and that if he closed his eyes he could simply float away and into a different life, or time, or place. Anywhere that wasn’t here, facing down the body of a human whose life he just took as though it was his place to decide whether she lived or died.

It was not a feeling that was good or safe, and as soon as he was aware of it, he felt everything crashing down around his shoulders, and everything rushed out of him, leaving him empty and hollow and still entirely inhuman.

There were tears running down his face now, he could feel the sobs wracking his body, but for all of the emotion that he was pouring out, there was nothing coming back in, and he felt empty.

He laid there on the ground, sniffling and sobbing, feeling for all the world like nothing, when he heard a bloodcurdling scream. There was only one person that the scream could have belonged too, and Yamaguchi’s eyes widened when he heard it. That cry for help belonged to the one and only, Tsukishima Kei.

 

* * *

 

  

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah this is a thing that happened. You can get ready for an intermission, which should be up soon-ish. Bonus points if you can guess who the Ocs are based off of.


	10. Intermission 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some more handy references and trivia for this fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that this is pretty soon after the last update, and I honestly have no idea when I'm going to get to part three, but for now this is the end of part two! Thank you to everyone who's been consistently following this, and especially the people who comment! These people fill my heart with joy and inspiration. Kudos again to our beta Haikawaiikitten.

The first part of this intermission is some noteworthy information and some important notes for the rest of the story.

 

 

  * Kinoshita and Narita are Demi Boys, while Ennoshita is trans.

  * I totally made up that system thing that the three of them had. That’s not even a thing that I use, I just needed a place for the Second Year Trio to meet up.

  * If you didn’t pick up on it, Yaku already got his top surgery, which I’m sure is a thing that can be done more easily in a big city like Tokyo, as opposed to, say, Miyagi.

  * Kuroo is completely out of line, and I didn’t mean to make him into as much of an antagonist as I did, and what he is now doesn’t hold a candle to what he becomes, so I’m telling you to brace yourselves.

  * The oc Rei is in fact based off of Rei Ryugazaki, from Free! There are four ocs in the story, and all of them are based off of actual canon characters in different franchises. They were only given first names, because I'm lazy, and wasn't feeling it. There were two characters with names taken from Free!, but the other series only have one character each, and the only one who not a lot of people would recognize is probably Akane, and if anyone guesses where he's from they get a cookie.
  * For all of the deaths that I meant to include in this part, there is only one. One death. That is 50% of the deaths that took place in part one. So, I guess part three will be where the body count starts to rise.

  * In a parallel to the original book, Ushijima receives a pan lid, like the initial protagonist Shuya Nanahara.

  * Tsukki's injury is also a reference to the original novel, and the arm injury of Noriko Nakagawa.


  * Hinata’s weapon was going to be a volleyball, in a reference to the episode where he hits Kageyama in the back of the head. Why I didn’t mention this in the first intermission is beyond me.

  * Hinata's death is a parallel to the death of Shuya's best friend in the beginning of the book, although he is deliberately shot in the heart instead of the original death to represent the feeling that everyone had when he was hit.
  * Please do not take any binding advice from my characters a bunch of it is unsafe and while they’re going to die soon anyways it doesn’t make it right.

  * In case you wanted to know more about Bokuto, yes he's an epileptic, and it's the late childhood onset kind where no one really knows where it came from. He's been taking regular medicine doses for a while, and he totally had the pills in his bag before he came, but his bag is now lost to him. Missing doses for epilepsy can become very dangerous very quickly, especially if you only took pills once a day like Bokuto did. He's only missed one dosage but he was already unlucky enough fall victim to a seizure. 



 

* * *

 

**Rank**

| 

**DMAB**

| 

**DFAB**  
  
---|---|---  
  
1.

| 

Akaashi, Keiji

| 

Yamaguchi, Tadashi  
  
2.

| 

Sawamura, Daichi

| 

Sugawara, Koushi  
  
3.

| 

Ushijima, Wakatoshi

| 

Michimiya, Yui  
  
4.

| 

Inouka, Sou

| 

Shimizu, Kiyoko  
  
5.

| 

Iwaizumi, Hajime

| 

Oikawa, Tooru  
  
6.

| 

Akane

| 

**Rei**  
  
7.

| 

Tsukishima, Kei

| 

Yaku, Morisuke  
  
8.

| 

Azumane, Asahi

| 

**Kozume, Kenma**  
  
9.

| 

Kuroo, Tetsuro

| 

Yachi, Hitoka  
  
10.

| 

Haiba, Lev

| 

Ennoshita, Chikara  
  
11.

| 

Tanaka, Ryuunosuke

| 

**Hinata, Shouyou**  
  
12.

| 

Kageyama, Tobio

| 

Kinoshita, Hisashi  
  
13.

| 

Bokuto, Koutarou

| 

Narita, Kazuhito  
  
14.

| 

Yamamoto, Taketora

| 

Hazuki  
  
15.

| 

Hideo

| 

Nishinoya, Yuu  
  
Like the code I used last time, the names of the dead are in bold, and the people who I didn't write about have their names underlined. 

* * *

 

Now this is the part that I'm sure you actually care about. The bit that's sort of like the fic battlestuck: afterlife, but also not. Without further ado, have some more closure for your volleychildren. The oc deaths don't go to this afterlife, but everyone else does. Why? Plot.

 

Hinata and Kenma spent time exploring the strange new world. It seemed that all of the coaches were there, with the exception of the Shiratorizawa coach. The two kids walked into the rooms with the screens, but the two of them walked over to the coaches first. When Nekomata saw them he smiled, but his eyes focused on Kenma. He opened his arms to them, tears in his eyes.

Kenma recoiled, not sure what to do at first. Fingers moving slowly and deliberately, they signed out, “What?”

Nekomata put his arms down, as if remembering that touch often unsettled Kenma, but his eyes were still misty. With shaking fingers, he signed back, “I’m sorry.”

Shrugging, Kenma signed back, “It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but the people who put us into the game.”

Nekomata pawed at his eyes, and reached out to gently ruffle Kenma’s hair. Kenma allowed it. Then, Nekomata turned around and went back to watching the screens. From the looks of it, Kageyama and Kuroo were together, and on a mission. Hinata froze when he saw the setter, and his amber eyes filled with longing.

“I miss him.” he mumbled, tears rising.

“I do too,” Kenma signed back. “I do too.”

Ukai and Takeda walked up behind the two of them. Ukai wasn’t smoking, but he still smelled a bit like cigarettes. He wrapped Hinata in a hug from behind, and Takeda wrapped him up from the front, both of them doing their best to comfort him.

Hinata broke down. He had tried to hold himself together, especially after remembering his own death, but it made him sick and angry to know that he was powerless to save his teammates.

After what could really only have been a few minutes, they broke apart, but Ukai and Takeda held him up until he was able to stand on his own again. For some reason, Hinata’s perception of time was off, and he had no idea how long he’d been upset.

His coach and teacher looked just like they had, Ukai with his ridiculous bleached hairstyle, but... Takeda’s glasses were different. “Takeda-sensei?”

“Yes, Hinata?” Takeda cocked his head to the side, and Hinata noticed what the difference was.

“GWAH! Sensei, your glasses don’t have lenses!”

Takeda smiled. “That’s right. For some reason, a lot of the physical things that ailed us have changed or vanished altogether. I think this afterlife is meant to be a reward of sorts? So now, everything is pretty much the way we want it to be? Whatever the case may be, my vision is fine now.”

Kenma tapped Hinata’s shoulder, and their pensive cat eyes said what their mouth did not.

“K-Kenma? Can you speak now?”

Nodding, Kenma signed out, “No. I can’t Well, I think I can’t. But this is more comfortable for me anyways.”

Hinata smiled, and nodded in acceptance. “Whatever’s easier for you, Kenma.”

Kenma pointed to their chest, then to Hinata’s, and it occurred to Hinata that he wasn’t wearing his binder. Feeling the panic starting to set in, he was about to start hyperventilating when he realized that the only pressure he felt on his chest was that created by himself. His chest was still flat, even without the compressive fabric.

His panicked breathing turned to a sigh of relief. “Oh my god. Oh my god, this is... I’m a... How?” He wasn’t brave enough to look down there to see if everything was really... Masculine, but for the first time, (other than when he was playing volleyball), his body felt right. He was still short, but everything else felt one hundred percent correct.

Hinata felt a near resurgence of the tears, but he managed to get himself under control. He’d cried too much today, for far too many reasons.

There was a sound of a gunshot behind them, and Hinata couldn’t help but flinch. The violence was beginning in earnest. Hinata wanted to see what would happen to his friends, but he didn’t think he could stomach any more deaths. He led Kenma out of the room with the screens, and went back into the room that was full of beds. They walked past that, and into another room, that looked like more of a recreational room, with a series of televisions and consoles lined up against the wall. There was also a fridge off to the side, and when Hinata opened it, it was full of water, and different juices, and soda, and... Hinata felt his stomach drop. Inside the fridge, there was an entire pack of boxed milk. Swallowing the immense sadness that he felt, he closed the fridge, jovial mood dampened.

Kenma pointed over to the consoles again, and gestured around the room, but his eyes were full of understanding. “Playing games isn’t the same without him watching.”

Hinata had enough with the depressing atmosphere. This was meant to be some sort of heaven, right? He looked around the room again, examining some of the stuff scattered around.

“Whoa, Kenma, there are bean bag chairs! What games are these? We should play something!”

Smiling, Kenma picked up a copy of Super Smash Bros and popped it into the nearest compatible console. As the starting screen flashed, he handed Hinata a controller, and signed out to him, in their own special code, “Get set to get wrecked.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Memes? In your fanfiction? It's more likely than you'd think. Also, I may not update for a while because my wrist has been causing some problems lately, which makes it harder to write. My apologies.


	11. What's A God to a Non-Believer [Part 3]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Human beings in a mob. What's a mob to a king? What's a king to a god? What's a god to a non-believer?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this totally isn't late or anything. Once again, much love to Haikawaiikitten.

Tsukishima Kei was in a world of hurt. He was on the ground, the best damn volleyball player in the prefecture standing over him, with his knee most likely broken. In short, he was about to die. He closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the deathblow, and then the sweet release of death, but instead he heard the one thing worse than that.

Yamaguchi Tadashi.

He opened his eyes, and realized it wasn’t the rush of adrenaline making him hallucinate. Yamaguchi was really there, a gun in his shaking hands, aimed at Ushijima Wakatoshi, the guy who had just broken Tsukishima’s knee.

The freckled boy was shaking, and his eyes were rimmed with red, but there he was, in the flesh, a bulky pistol aiming at his assailant.

Twenty-nine other people living on the island, and it had to be Yamaguchi who came to his rescue. Just his rotten luck.

“Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima said cautiously, trying not to spook him. “Don’t do anything-”

The gunshots were louder than Tsukishima had expected. The gun went off, and it enveloped the clearing in a cacophony of sound.

Blood spurted out of the boy’s head at an extreme rate, bleeding far more than the other two had expected. It was amazing, and they watched with a sense of morbid fascination. A bullet the size of Tsukishima’s pinky finger was able to kill, when shot out of that horrible weapon.

The way the body twitched, even after it’s owner is so obviously dead was pretty amazing too.

There was no reaction for a good two minutes. Then, Yamaguchi dropped the gun, his hands shaking visibly, and it hit the dirt with a dull thud. He sank to his knees, unable to keep himself standing for even a second longer.

Tsukishima didn’t react for an entire minute after that. Then, he dragged himself over to his friend, ignoring the throbbing in his leg. The boy’s face was dry, his eyes unblinking, just staring at the gun on the ground. Tsukishima almost reached out a hand to try and administer some sort of comfort, only to rescind it upon consideration.

“Sorry, Tsukki,” he choked out, his voice little more than a whisper.

 

* * *

 

Tsukishima didn’t know what he expected. Did he think Yamaguchi was just going to let Ushijima kill him? Did he expect Yamaguchi to collapse in a dead faint? Was he waiting for his best friend to even shed a tear over the person, a human that was no longer breathing because of him?

Yamaguchi’s teeth started chattering, and Tsukishima knew that something serious was off. He tried to recall that mandatory physical education class that everyone had to take. Was Yamaguchi going into shock?

“Yamaguchi? Yamaguchi can you hear me?”  
“Tsukki? Tsukki what’s happening? When am I going to wake up?” Tears began to spill over the brim of his eyes. “This can’t be real, right? This is just a terrible nightmare, and in a few minutes, you’re gonna wake me up, and I’ll just be having a nightmare at your house because we fell asleep watching a scary movie, right?”

“Yamaguchi...”

“Why won’t I wake up?” Yamaguchi was yelling at this point. “Please... I just...” He broke down into sobs. Not knowing what else to do, Tsukishima awkwardly pulled the sobbing boy into a hug. Their relationship usually didn't include a lot of physical contact, but Yamaguchi always seemed to feel better with a hug or two. One time, Yachi had gotten upset, and Yamaguchi had just wrapped her up in his arms, and she felt better in no time. Tsukishima vaguely wondered if the same logic applied here. 

“I wanna go home...”

Tsukishima didn’t speak, if only because he didn’t know what to say. He took the gun out of Yamaguchi’s hand, and put it to the side a few feet away from both of them.

They stayed like that for a while, until Yamaguchi had cried himself out, and Tsukishima picked up the gun and threw it in his bag. He tried to stand up, and although it felt like his legs were literal jelly beneath him, it canceled out the pain in his knee, and he managed to work his way over to Ushijima’s body.

Averting his eyes, he managed to find the ace’s bag and pull out the water and food that the he had been given, no different than what he had found in his bag After stuffing the supplies into his and Yamaguchi’s duffels, he worked his way back over to the shivering boy and slung his friend’s bag around his shoulders. He almost collapsed on the ground in front of his friend, but managed to reach over and grab his bag. Tsukishima consolidated that materials so that everything was in his bag.  

“For easier carrying,” he said, mostly to himself, and he fought the urge to meet Yamaguchi’s curious eyes.

Once he had finished, he zipped the bag up and slipped it on to his shoulder. Holding out a hand towards his friend, he spoke.

“We should go. Someone probably heard, and we’ve waited around here for long enough. We can set up camp somewhere else.”

After a moment, Yamaguchi reached a shaky hand out and took Tsukishima’s larger one into his own. Despite being the shorter of the two, Yamaguchi was able to pull Tsukishima up, even though the blond grunted in pain.

Yamaguchi helped him hop awkwardly to a tree, and then examined Tsukishima’s left knee. It was swelling, and the entire area was a deep purplish-red.

“Tsukki? I’m not a doctor, but I think we need to put compression on the wound.”

Tsukishima sighed, having expected the diagnosis. Yamaguchi ran back over to Ushijima’s bag, and he gestured for Tsukki to brace himself.

Yamaguchi wrapped the thick strap around his friend’s leg, and without warning pulled it tighter.

“Shit! Yamaguchi, that hurt.” He shot Yamaguchi his best betrayed look.

“Sorry, Tsukki.” he said, almost reflexively, “I know it did, but you can’t get anywhere on a broken leg.”

If there was a silver lining to his situation, it was that his injury brought out Yamaguchi’s protective side, and gave his friend an anchor to reality. If there was anything that Yamaguchi needed in his life right now, it was some sort of stability, and even if it was at his own expense he was more than happy to provide that anchor.

But that little sliver of normalcy wasn’t enough to distract Tsukishima from the weight of the gun in his bag.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the summary quote is shamelessly taken from "No Church in the Wild" by Kanye west. And yes, Karasuno is the human beings in a mob, Oikawa is the king, and Ushijima is god. Just for Clarification. My wrist is getting better but updates are still going to be slow because school. Responsibilities, amiright? But stay tuned, and if you're sick of me not updating there's two things you can do: One, comment and I will love you forever, and two, read some of Janice and my other stuff. We're posting our side project, (I Just Can't Wait to be King), and that fic has actual regular updates, so you're welcome. That is all folks tip your waitresses.


	12. Some Wounds Start to Heal [Part 3]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it's taken me a million years to update, and excuses wouldn't be chill, so I'm just gonna put this here.

“Bokuto-san?”

For a moment, Bokuto wasn’t even sure that was his name. He didn’t know who was speaking, or why they sounded so concerned. Then, it came rushing back to him. “...Where am I” The words sounded foreign on his tongue. 

A headache started to come on as everything returned in earnest. “A-Akaashi?”

“Yes, Bokuto-san.” Bokuto started to struggle to sit up, while Akaashi pushed him back down on to his back. “Calm down, Bokuto-san. You had a seizure again. Everything’s gonna be fine if you just calm down.”

That didn’t stop Bokuto’s heart from racing, but it helped to soothe him again. 

Akaashi began to explain in a calm and regular fashion, the way he’d done it plenty of times back home. “We’re trapped in the Battle Royale.”

“Oh.”

The two sat in awkward silence for a few moments, the only sounds being their breathing and the soft voice of the wind blowing between the trees, shuffling the leaves around. There weren’t even any wildlife sounds, as though even though the animals had the sense to get as far away from this competition as possible.

After the wind slowed down, Bokuto waited a minute before speaking again, as though not sure what to say. 

“What are we gonna do, Akaashi?”

The brunette sighed, having expected the straightforward and yet unanswerable question. “I don’t know. We’re going to try to survive as long as we can, and then we’re going to play it by ear. These are our friends in here - they can’t all be trying to kill us. I personally haven’t seen anyone dead, excluding Hinata -”

At that, Bokuto seemed to retreat further into himself, and a vacant look covered his face. “Kenma’s dead too. As soon as he got out of the building, I think.”

Akaashi struggled to form words. Swallowing, he somehow managed to compose himself once again. “How did he... you know...”

“I couldn’t tell. There was too much blood. It was everywhere, Akaashi.” The white-haired boy turned on to his side, resigned to his mood. “We’re not gonna make it.”

“Stop, Bokuto-san. There’s no way we can make it if you think like that. Please, just calm down, and we’ll figure something out. I know that you’re grieving. I am too. But that’s no reason to believe that we can’t do this.”

As if on cue, a siren rang out. “Hello, students!” The voice of the twisted man from the classroom rang out through the island. “It’s six-o-clock, so it’s time for the death tally of this afternoon! After the young miss Hinata Shouyou died at my hands, we began letting you all out. Almost as soon as poor miss Kozume Kenma left the classroom, though, she died. That one, though wasn’t my doing, and her killer is still out there. After that, Miss --- Rei died, also at the hands of a classmate. It’s too bad - I think she could have made it to the end. She had the intent, that’s for sure! And finally, we have... of all people, mister Ushijima Wakatoshi. Well, that’s it, surprisingly. I’ll see you all in six hours.”

The man’s voice disappeared, leaving the island with an emptiness - no birds, no wind, just... void.

Bokuto’s upper lip trembled, and his voice wobbled, and the long shadows that the sun cast on his face only served to make him look more troubled. “That’s three classmates that killed someone, Akaashi. Three people that we have to watch out for.” The defeated tone that permeated Bokuto’s voice was nothing new to Akaashi, but he’d never been at such as loss as to how to sate Bokuto’s inner demons.

There were three cases, once again. Case A: He told Bokuto that everything would be fine by diverting his attention to something else. Bokuto probably wouldn’t believe him and he might just blow Akaashi off, but it might work. Case B: He tried to remind Bokuto that Kenma wouldn’t want this. But, if he did that, Bokuto would most likely sink further into depression. Or , there was Case C: He simply moved on and tried to find a partner who would stay focused long enough to win, in which case Bokuto would most definitely die. Case C would be the most troublesome, by far. 

Without missing a beat, Akaashi responded. “Or one that’s very excited about their situation. He never said that it was three different people.”

“It was implied though, wasn’t it?” 

Akaashi did his best to suppress a sigh. “Bokuto-san. We’re going to be fine. We can figure this out.” Case A it was, and it was playing out how Akaashi imagined that it would.

“I really hope so, Akaashi. I’m not ready to die.” The childlike whimper in his voice broke Akaashi’s heart, and he could tell that his friend was struggling to keep his voice even. 

Akaashi sighed. “Me neither, Bokuto-san.”

* * *

 

Kiyoko froze, rifle aimed at the entrance to her hideaway, where she heard the faintest of footsteps just outside. 

She listened closely, and a soft, familiar muttering caught her attention. 

“This is terrible what am I going to do I dropped one of my bread loaves already and I’m lost because I can’t read this map and...”

Tentatively, and with the rifle aimed at the source of the noise, Kiyoko lifted aside the curtain of leaves and squinted into the twilight. “Hitoka-chan?”

Yachi froze, holding her hammer in front of her as if to ward off evil, and frantically looking around, for all to see a frantic animal backed into a corner.

Making her voice softer, and forcing a soothing tone, Kiyoko tried again to reach out to her. “Hitoka-chan, it’s just me, Kiyoko. I’m not going to hurt you.” She flicked on the safety on her rifle, and set it down, but Yachi must have thought that Kiyoko was flipping the safety off, because she immediately dropped her hammer and took shelter behind one of the other local boulders. 

Kiyoko stepped out from her spot in the hideaway, hands up as a signal that she was unarmed. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t - couldn’t - hurt you.”

Yachi stepped out from behind her boulder and picked up her hammer, holding it tightly to her body. She stumbled towards Kiyoko, each step less sure than the last. It was only now that Kiyoko saw her face, eyes red and brimming with tears, cheeks blotchy from rubbing, nose still leaking oh-so-slightly. Kiyoko embraced her tightly, trying to bring a little bit of home back to the blonde. She began kneeling down, pulling Yachi down with her, trying to put the girl in the most comfortable position possible. Tugging the bag off of her shoulders, she whispered into Yachi’s ear. 

“You’re okay... I promise. Don’t worry... I’m right here.” Kiyoko did her best to speak softly and comfortingly.

Yachi nodded, tears now streaming down her face. “I wanna go home, Kiyoko... why did it have to be us? What did we ever do? And - and Hinata and Hinata’s friend and everyone’s dying and I’m so scared....” All of her was shaking, from her voice to her trembling form.

“I know... I promise, you’re gonna be okay. I’ll take care of you.” Kiyoko knew that she’d do anything to protect the younger girl, who had become almost like a little sister to her.

After a few minutes, (which felt like ages to both girls), Kiyoko gestured to her makeshift cave, and guided Yachi over to it, and pushed the smaller girl inside. She sat Yachi down, pressing on her shoulders, and wrapped her jacket around her for warmth, before propping her up against the cave wall. 

Walking back outside, Kiyoko made sure to erase any evidence that they were ever there from the clearing, before walking back inside and sitting next to Yachi.

“... Kiyoko-san?” Yachi’s voice was small, and the girl looked like she was folding in on herself.

“Hm.”

“What are we going to do?”

Kiyoko so desperately wished that she had an answer.

* * *

 

“... Michimiya? Is that you?” Asahi was still unsure, but it wasn’t Kiyoko and it wasn’t Yachi, and she didn’t know any other girls.

The girl in front of Asahi turned around so that she was facing Asahi, and a momentary glance revealed that it was, in fact, Michimiya. She looked almost exactly the same as she had in school, her chocolate curls swirling around her ears, and her eyes as calm and in control as they’d always been. 

“So it is you, Asahi! Wait!” She jumped back, hands in front of her. “You aren’t going to try to kill me, right? Show me your weapon!”

Pinching her eyebrows, Asahi reached over to her bag. “I actually hadn’t looked yet. But you aren’t going to kill me, are you?”

Michimiya stayed in her position, but narrowed her eyes anyways, looking confused. “I’m not going to kill you if you don’t try to kill me.”

Nodding in acceptance, Asahi unzipped her bag, somewhat terrified of what she was going to find. She pulled out a fairly generic sword, and paled. Michimiya quickly snatched it out of her hands and tossed it to the side. “There, now you can’t kill me with it. So, it’s safe.”

Asahi looked up at the earnest girl, who pulled a first aid kit out of her own bag. “Alright. I really don’t think you’re going to kill me, so I’m going to treat your wound. It seems to be a fairly run of the mill sprain, so if you don’t put much pressure on it, you should be fine.”

“Why are you helping me?” Asahi was genuinely curious. What did Michimiya stand to gain by helping her? She was injured, and clearly couldn't have fought to begin with.

Michimiya shrugged, not flinching and hardly pausing in her work. She was wrapping a bandage tightly around her friend’s swollen ankle. “I didn’t stand a chance to begin with, and my ‘weapon’ isn’t good for anything but healing. It’s fitting, right? Anyways, if I’m going to be here, I’d rather not be here alone. Is it unfair of me to want company at the end of the world?” Michimiya seemed wistful, but at peace with the situation, something that Asahi envied. 

She shook her head, perhaps more forcefully than necessary. “No. I don’t think that’s wrong. It’s not unfair of people to want company even when the world isn’t ending.”

Michimiya chuckled. “I suppose it isn’t. By the way, I’ve finished with your ankle. You shouldn’t walk on it for a while though, so we’re going to be here for a little bit. If it’s all the same to you, I’m going to stay here. Safety in numbers right?” Michimiya reached over and took Asahi’s sword, placing it in a position where she could have it ready to go at a moment’s notice. 

Asahi moved over, patting the spot next to her. “Safety in numbers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did you like it? Please comment. I'm sorry that I haven't written in so long, but I'e been busy. I can't make any promises about when I'll have the next chapter up, but please keep an eye out!


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